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Dessert

Nell's Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake topped with a glossy chocolate dressing made from egg whites, sugar, chocolate, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Nell's 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the cake

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

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the 3 egg yolks and mix well.

  4. Stir in the milk and baking powder.

  5. Gradually add the flour, mixing until smooth.

  6. Pour the batter into two long shallow baking tins.

  7. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the dressing

  1. For the dressing, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Gradually add 1½ cups sugar and mix until glossy.

  3. Fold in the grated chocolate and vanilla.

Finish and serve

  1. Once the cake is cool, spread the dressing on top and cut into diamond slices.

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. 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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs
Egg yolks enrich the batter, and whipped whites give the dressing its light, stiff structure.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake once mixed into the batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and turns light.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and, whipped with egg whites, stabilises the glossy dressing.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Whites must be fully whipped and free of yolk or grease to hold air. Underwhipped or deflated whites make a dense, runny dressing that will not stay glossy on the 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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