Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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.
Make the cake batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the butter until creamy, then stir in the sugar and beat until light.
Add the milk, then the flour and beaten egg whites, mixing well.
Divide the batter into two equal parts; grate the sweet chocolate into one half.
Pour the batters into prepared cake pans and bake until done.
Make the custard and assemble
For the custard, add 1 tablespoon of butter to 1 pint of milk and bring to a boil.
Stir in 2 beaten eggs mixed with 1 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of corn starch dissolved in a little milk.
Spread the custard between the layers of cake, alternating the white and dark layers.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor in the cake and custard.
- Egg whites
- Help the batter set and give the cake lift and structure.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Sweet chocolate
- Gives the dark layer its chocolate flavor and color.
- Corn starch (in the method)
- Thickens the custard so it holds between the cake layers.
The step that matters
Stir the custard while it thickens. Corn starch must be fully dissolved before it goes in and the custard kept moving as it heats, otherwise it can lump or scorch on the bottom. Starch thickens only once it gets hot enough, so the custard should be stirred and cooked until it visibly thickens.
“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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