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Dessert

Caramel Cake

A baked cake with a caramel topping made from brown sugar, chocolate, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Caramel 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 cake batter

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

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

  3. Add the milk, flour, corn starch, egg whites, and baking powder, and mix well.

  4. Pour the batter into a long pan.

  5. Bake until golden.

Make the caramel topping

  1. In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, chocolate, milk, and butter.

  2. Cook until thick.

  3. Stir in the vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Finish the cake

  1. Spread the caramel mixture on the cake.

  2. Return to the oven to dry.

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. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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 adds richness and tender texture to the crumb.
Egg whites
Provide structure and lift, setting the cake's crumb as they cook.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake batter as its proteins set during baking.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.
Brown sugar
Adds moisture and molasses flavor, giving the caramel topping its depth and color.
Chocolate
Adds richness and deep flavor to the caramel topping.

The step that matters

Cook the caramel until thick. Sugar and milk must be cooked long enough to thicken into a spreadable caramel. Stopping too early leaves a runny topping that soaks into the cake, while overcooking can make it hard or grainy.

“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.

More caramel cake recipes

Chocolate 16Filling 11Potato 9Maple 4 See all 114 →

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