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Dessert

Loaf Chocolate Cake

A chocolate loaf cake with a chocolate icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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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 ↓

Loaf Chocolate Cake

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.

  5. Dissolve the grated chocolate in a little of the measured milk and add vanilla for flavor.

  6. Boil 3 tablespoons of sugar with 2 tablespoons of milk, then add to the chocolate mixture, stirring until smooth.

  7. Gradually add the chocolate mixture to the batter, mixing until well combined.

Bake and ice

  1. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. For the icing, dissolve ¾ cup grated chocolate in ½ cup boiling water.

  3. Add 1 ½ cup sugar and boil; just before done, add butter.

  4. Cook until it shapes in water, then stir until it thickens.

  5. Spread the icing over the cooled cake.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. Vanilla + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,730 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set during baking.
Butter
Creaming with sugar traps air and adds tenderness and richness to the crumb.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure once its proteins set in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the loaf rise and become light.
Grated chocolate
Gives the cake its chocolate flavor and deep color.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and tender.

The step that matters

Cooking the icing until it thickens. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration to set. Undercooked icing stays runny and will not hold on the cake, while overcooked icing turns stiff and grainy as it cools.

Swap the walnut

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Walnutthe original

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