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 ↓
Black Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the brown sugar and butter.
Add the eggs and sour milk or buttermilk, and beat until well combined.
Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and stir it into the mixture.
Add the grated chocolate and mix well.
Gradually add the sifted flour and vanilla extract, stirring until smooth.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake slowly until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps give the cake a tender, moist crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets.
- Sour milk or buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk or buttermilk to produce gas that leavens the cake.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
The step that matters
Bake slowly until a toothpick comes out clean. Baking at a low temperature cooks the batter gently so the cake sets evenly without drying or over-browning. Testing with a toothpick shows when the centre is set, since the cake keeps cooking from residual heat after it leaves the oven.
“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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