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 Cakes
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.
Prepare the cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the egg yolks and milk, mixing well.
Sift the flour and baking powder together, then gradually add to the mixture.
Pour the batter into jelly cake tins and bake until golden.
Make the filling
For the filling, boil 2 cups of granulated sugar until it becomes brittle.
Gradually add the grated chocolate to the boiling sugar, beating continuously.
Once combined, pour the mixture over the well-beaten egg whites.
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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Butter + flourtop 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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich texture.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and structure, helping the batter set as it bakes.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to hold air, adding lightness to the filling.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown as it bakes.
The step that matters
Boiling the sugar for the filling. Sugar must reach the right temperature to become brittle; under-boiled sugar stays soft, while over-boiled sugar can scorch or turn bitter. Adding the chocolate while beating keeps the mixture smooth.
“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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