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Dessert

Bavarian Cherry Cake

A light cake made with eggs, bread crumbs, powdered sugar, grated chocolate, and black cherries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Bavarian Cherry 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.

Prepare

  1. Grease a cake mold with butter and dust with bread crumbs.

Make the batter

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine grated chocolate, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon bread crumbs, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Beat until light.

  2. Add another egg, along with 1 tablespoon bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon sugar. Mix well.

  3. Separate the remaining 3 eggs. Add each yolk one at a time, alternating with bread crumbs and sugar until all are used.

  4. Fold in the black cherries.

  5. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold into the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the batter into the mold and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes. Test for doneness like other cakes.

  2. Serve cold or warm with fruit sauce.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped whites give the cake its light, airy structure, while yolks add richness and set the crumb.
Black cherries
Add moisture and tart fruit flavor that contrasts with the sweet, chocolatey batter.
Bread crumbs
Replace much of the flour, giving a tender, slightly dense crumb with body.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps give the cake a soft, tender texture.
Sweet chocolate
Adds deep flavor and richness to the batter.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiff whites hold the air that lifts the cake. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring or overmixing deflates the batter, leaving a dense, flat cake.

“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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