Why it works: Cocoa powder and coffee work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 541 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Cocoa Torte
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the coffee.
Fold in the beaten egg whites last.
Pour the batter into two greased cake pans.
Bake and serve
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool and fill with strawberry jam.
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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Cocoa powder + coffeetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together541 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + cocoa powdertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,244 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Cocoa powder + sugartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,920 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + cocoa powdertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter together.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender, fine crumb when creamed with butter.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, lifting the batter so the cake rises.
- Cocoa powder
- Provides the chocolate flavor and deep color of the cake.
The step that matters
Adding the dry ingredients gradually, alternating with the coffee. Flour that is added in batches and mixed only until combined keeps gluten development low. Overmixing once flour is in makes the cake dense and tough.
“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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