Name: Fudge Cake with Whipped Cream
Ingredients: ½ cup butter; 1 cup sugar; 2 egg yolks; 3 squares chocolate, melted; ½ cup molasses; ½ cup sour milk; ½ cup hot water; 2½ cups pastry flour, sifted; 1 teaspoon baking soda

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 ↓

Fudge Cake with Whipped Cream

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

Cream the butter in a bowl.
Gradually add the sugar and mix well.
Beat in the egg yolks, melted chocolate, molasses, sour milk, and hot water.
Sift the pastry flour with baking soda and fold into the mixture.

Bake and serve

Pour the batter into a well-buttered muffin pan.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.
Serve with whipped cream.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,128 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, 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

Pastry flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in the sour milk and molasses to release gas, which makes the cake rise.
Sour milk: Its acidity activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
Molasses: Adds moisture, dark colour, and a deep, slightly sweet flavour.
Egg yolks: Add richness and help bind the batter, giving a tender, set crumb.
Butter: Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavour.

The step that matters

Folding in the flour and baking soda. Fold gently and only until combined. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, making the cake tough, and knocks out the gas bubbles that the baking soda and sour milk are producing, so the cake rises less.

“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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Fudge Cake with Whipped Cream