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Dessert

French Chocolate Cake

A layered cake with chocolate and custard filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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French Chocolate 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 ↓

French 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.

Make the batter

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

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

  3. Cream the sugar and butter together.

  4. Add the yolks of five eggs to the creamed mixture and mix well.

  5. Stir in one cup of milk.

  6. Fold in the beaten egg whites.

  7. Sift together three cups of flour and three teaspoons of baking powder, then add to the mixture.

  8. Divide the batter into two parts: one for the light cake and one for the chocolate cake.

  9. For the chocolate part, mix in one cup of grated chocolate with the yolks of the eggs.

Bake the layers

  1. Bake the layers in jelly-cake tins until done.

Make the custard

  1. For the custard, combine two eggs, one pint of milk, one-half cup of sugar, and one tablespoon of flour or cornstarch in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over low heat until thickened, then flavor with two teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Assemble

  1. Spread the custard between the layers of cake and over the top and sides.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Egg whites
Whipped into stiff foam that traps air, giving the cake lift and a light crumb.
Butter
Fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavor through the cake.
Flour
Provides the protein structure that holds the cake layers together.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, making the layers rise in the oven.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep the crumb tender and moist.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and a darker color to the chocolate layer.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Whites hold air that lifts the cake. Stirring them in vigorously knocks that air out, so the layers come out dense. Fold gently and quickly to keep the batter light.

“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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