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Dessert

Devils Food Cake

A chocolate cake made with sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, baking powder, sour milk, hot water, and Snowdrift shortening.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Devils Food Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and Snowdrift.

  2. Add the egg yolks and the grated chocolate dissolved in hot water, then beat well.

  3. Dissolve the baking soda in the sour milk and add to the mixture.

  4. Gradually sift in 2 cups of flour, beating well.

  5. Alternate adding the last cup of flour and baking powder with the well-beaten egg whites.

  6. Add the salt and your favorite flavoring.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. Once baked, assemble the layers and ice with caramel.

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. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Eggs
Provide structure and richness as the batter sets in the oven.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas, helping the cake rise and turn tender.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds moisture and tenderness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps keep the crumb moist and tender.
Grated chocolate
Adds flavor and deep color to the cake.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake's rise.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites are beaten to hold air; alternating them gently with the flour and baking powder keeps that air in, so the cake rises light rather than dense.

“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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