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Dessert

Caramel Cake

A layered chocolate cake with caramel glaze, whipped egg‑white filling, and a chocolate coating.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 ↓

Caramel Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate mixture

  1. Melt ½ cake Baker's chocolate with ½ cup milk, the yolk of 1 egg, and 1 cup sugar. Cook until smooth and let cool.

Make and bake the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix 1 cup sugar, ½ cup butter, 2 eggs, ½ cup milk, 2 cups flour, and 2 teaspoons baking powder. Flavor with vanilla.

  2. Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the batter and bake in layers.

Make the filling and coating

  1. Beat the whites of 2 eggs with an equal amount of water until frothy.

  2. Gradually add 2 pounds of confectioner's sugar to the egg whites until very thick.

  3. Spread the filling ½ inch thick between the layers.

  4. Melt ½ cake chocolate with 1 cup sugar and ½ cup milk.

  5. Flavor the melted chocolate with vanilla and boil until creamy.

  6. Pour the coating over the cake.

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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor in the cake.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
Egg whites
Whipped with water and sugar to form a thick, stable filling.
Baker's chocolate
Gives the cake its chocolate flavor and colors the batter and coating.

The step that matters

Adding the confectioner's sugar to the egg whites. Sugar must be added gradually while beating, so the whites can hold air and reach a thick, stable texture instead of collapsing or staying loose.

“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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Chocolate 16Filling 11Potato 9Maple 4 See all 114 →

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