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Dessert

Devil Cake, Layer

A layered cake made with dark brown sugar, butter, sour milk, hot water, eggs, baking soda, chocolate, flour, and a sweet cream filling.

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 ↓

Devil Cake, Layer

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. In a bowl, mix the brown sugar, butter, sour milk, and hot water.

  3. Add the eggs and dissolved baking soda to the mixture.

  4. Dissolve the grated chocolate in the hot water and add it to the bowl.

  5. Gradually stir in the flour until well combined.

  6. Pour the batter into jelly tins and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the filling

  1. For the filling, boil the dark brown sugar, sweet cream, and butter until thick.

  2. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

  3. Beat the filling until it lightens in color.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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 gives the cake its dark, rich color and flavor.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and richness.
Eggs
Add structure and help bind the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
Unsweetened chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and deep color to the cake.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together.

The step that matters

Beat the filling until it lightens in color. Boiling sugar, cream and butter to thickness and then beating lets the mixture cool and crystallize slightly, so it sets to a spreadable, lighter filling rather than a runny or grainy one.

“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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