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Dessert

Chocolate Nut Cake

A moist chocolate cake with walnuts, baked with butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Chocolate Nut Cake

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 ↓

Chocolate Nut 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. Cream the butter.

  2. Gradually add 1 cup of sugar.

  3. Beat the egg yolks until thick and light.

  4. Add the second cup of sugar.

  5. Combine with the butter mixture.

  6. Melt the chocolate over hot water.

  7. Add the melted chocolate to the first mixture.

  8. Mix and sift the flour, baking powder, and salt.

  9. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk to the mixture.

  10. Fold in the walnut meats and vanilla extract.

  11. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered and lined 2-inch deep cake pan.

  2. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  3. Spread with Marshmallow Frosting.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Egg whites
Whipped to hold air, giving the cake lift and a light structure.
Egg yolks
Add richness and emulsify with the butter for a smooth, tender batter.
Flour
Forms the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes airy.
Chocolate
Adds deep flavour and colour along with fat for a moist crumb.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stirring rather than folding deflates the whipped foam, losing the air that gives the cake its lift. Fold gently and only until no streaks remain.

Swap the walnut

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

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

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