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Dessert

Chocolate Cake

A moist chocolate cake with a light icing made from beaten egg whites, powdered sugar, chocolate, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the milk and egg yolks, mixing well.

  4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.

  6. In another bowl, beat the reserved egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold them into the batter.

Bake and ice

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. For the icing, beat the reserved egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the powdered sugar.

  3. Mix in the grated chocolate and vanilla until well combined.

  4. Spread the icing over the cooled 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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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
Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavor.
Eggs
Yolks add richness and moisture, while whipped whites add lift and structure to the batter.
Flour
Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter to make the cake rise.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender, fluffy texture when creamed with butter.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and richness to the icing.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Whites beaten to stiff peaks trap air that helps the cake rise. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring hard deflates the batter and yields a dense cake.

“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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