Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the chocolate paste
Combine 1 cup milk, yolk of egg, and chocolate in a pan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it forms a paste.
Make the batter
Remove from heat and add butter, sugar, and remaining ½ cup milk.
Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and a pinch of salt.
Bake and finish
Pour batter into a long loaf pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.
Beat egg white until stiff.
Spread the stiff egg white over the cake while still in the pan.
Let the cake cool before serving.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Forms the main structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Egg
- The yolk thickens the chocolate paste, and the beaten white adds lightness and a topping.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown and stay moist.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Chocolate
- Gives the cake its chocolate flavour, colour, and richness.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, so the batter rises and becomes light.
The step that matters
Cooking the chocolate paste over medium heat. Stirring constantly keeps the heat even, so the chocolate melts smoothly and the egg yolk thickens gently without scrambling or scorching on the base of the pan.
“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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