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Dessert

Chocolate Torte

A chocolate and almond torte with a chocolate icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Chocolate Torte

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. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Beat the egg yolks with the powdered sugar.

  3. Add the grated chocolate, grated almonds, and vanilla extract to the yolk mixture.

  4. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

  5. Pour the mixture into a springform pan and bake for one hour.

Make the icing

  1. For the icing, boil the grated chocolate, sugar, and milk together.

  2. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and egg yolk.

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. Vanilla + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  5. Chocolate + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

Eggs
Whipped whites trap air and set into the structure, while yolks add richness and binding.
Grated almonds
Provide bulk and a moist, tender crumb in place of flour.
Grated sweet chocolate
Adds deep chocolate flavor and richness to the cake.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and blends smoothly with the egg yolks for a fine texture.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Whipped egg whites hold air that makes the torte rise. Vigorous stirring deflates them, leaving a denser, heavier cake after baking.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Cocoafits about as well
  3. Hazelnutfits about as well
  4. Chestnutfits about as well

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