Name: Chocolate Cake
Ingredients: ½ cup butter; 4 teaspoons baking powder; 2 cups sugar; 4 egg yolks; 1 cup milk; 4 egg whites; 2½ cups flour; ½ teaspoon vanilla; 4 squares chocolate

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 very slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the batter

Cream the butter and sugar together.
Melt the chocolate and add it to the butter and sugar mixture along with the egg yolks.
Stir in the milk and flour alternately.
Fold in the egg whites and vanilla.

Bake and finish

Bake in one layer at 300°F (150°C).
Use white icing to frost 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.

Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,020 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Egg whites: Whipped or folded in to trap air, giving the cake lightness and a open crumb.
Flour: Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Butter: Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavor in the batter.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and tender.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cake rises.
Chocolate: Adds chocolate flavor and richness to 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.