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Dessert

Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake made with melted chocolate, sugar, milk, vanilla, egg yolk, butter, sugar, milk, egg, baking soda, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the chocolate mixture

  1. Melt the chocolate with ⅓ cup sugar, ¾ cup milk, vanilla, and beaten egg yolk in a bowl over a tea kettle until smooth.

Make the batter

  1. In another bowl, cream the butter with ½ cup sugar.

  2. Add ⅓ cup milk, 1 egg, baking soda, and flour to the butter mixture.

  3. Combine the chocolate mixture with the batter, adding a little more flour if needed.

  4. Mix well and pour into a greased baking pan.

Bake

  1. Bake in a cool oven at 300°F (150°C) until done.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps set the crumb as it bakes.
Egg yolk
Adds richness and emulsifies the chocolate mixture for a smooth texture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Chocolate
Supplies the chocolate flavor and deep color of the cake.

The step that matters

Melting the chocolate mixture gently. Chocolate can seize or turn grainy if overheated. Melting it slowly over gentle heat keeps it smooth so it blends evenly into the batter.

“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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