Name: Chocolate Oh Coffee Cake
Ingredients: 3 oz butter (⅜ cup); 6 oz flour (1½ cups); 2 eggs; 3 oz sugar (⅜ cup); 2 tablespoons milk; 1 teaspoon baking powder; Essence of vanilla to taste; Powdered chocolate or camp coffee

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 Oh Coffee Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA steady oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a steady oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

Beat the sugar and butter together until creamy.
Add the milk and beaten eggs, then mix in vanilla essence to taste.
For coffee cake, mix in 1½ tablespoons of ground coffee.
For chocolate cake, mix 1 tablespoon of powdered chocolate with the flour and baking powder, then add to the mixture last.

Bake and finish

Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for one hour.
Once cooled, divide the cake into three layers and spread with butter filling.

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

Butter: Creams with sugar to create a tender, fine crumb and adds richness.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as they set.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps create a creamy, aerated batter when beaten with butter.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.

“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.