Why it works: Cocoa and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 357 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Chocolate Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat butter and sugar together.
Add flour, baking powder, cocoa and vanilla essence.
Bake and finish
Bake in moderate oven 15 to 20 minutes in sandwich tins.
Ice with chocolate icing.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chocolate | 1 oz (28g) semisweet | 155 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp extract (4ml) | 12 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Cocoa + vanillatop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together357 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Chocolate + cocoatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together165 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
-
Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Butter + cocoatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together548 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-undecalactone (coconut, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cakes a tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the crumb.
- Cocoa
- Provides the chocolate flavour and a deep colour to the cakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven so the cakes rise and become light.
Swap the cocoa
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, chocolate, egg, vanilla):
- Almondfits better
- Pecansfits better
- Hazelnutfits about as well
- Cocoathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, chocolate, egg, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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