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Dessert

Fudge Cake

A chocolate cake with walnut pieces and a chocolate frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 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 ↓

Fudge 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 cake batter

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

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl.

  3. Add the milk and mix well.

  4. Sift the baking powder with the flour and gradually add to the mixture.

  5. Stir in the melted chocolate and coarsely chopped walnuts.

  6. Beat the egg yolks and whites separately, then fold them into the batter.

Bake and make the frosting

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes.

  2. For the frosting, melt the butter in a saucepan.

  3. Add the chocolate, sugar, salt, and milk, then bring to a boil for 8-10 minutes.

  4. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, and beat until smooth.

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

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

  5. Walnut + vanillatop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,730 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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
Creams with the sugar to create a tender, aerated crumb and adds richness.
Eggs
Separated and folded in to add structure and lift to the batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and color to both the cake and the frosting.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and, when creamed, helps trap air for a lighter texture.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites and folding them in. Whites beaten separately and folded gently keep air in the batter. Stirring them in hard knocks that air out, leaving a denser cake.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chocolate, sugar, egg, butter, milk, flour, vanilla):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, sugar, egg, butter, milk, flour, vanilla. 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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