Why it works: Flour and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Cocoa Cakes
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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the cocoa and water, mixing until well combined.
Incorporate the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon, mixing until smooth.
Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into greased pans.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cocoa + cinnamontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together74 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 add richness and tenderness to the crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding, helping the batter set as it bakes.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake's shape as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and become light.
- Cocoa
- Supplies chocolate flavour and dark colour to the batter.
The step that matters
Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully combined. Adding eggs gradually lets each one emulsify fully into the creamed butter and sugar. Adding them too quickly can cause the batter to curdle or separate, which can give a coarser, denser crumb.
Swap the cocoa
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, egg, cinnamon):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Pistachiofits better
- Cocoathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, egg, cinnamon. 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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