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Dessert

Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake made with butter, sugar, eggs, milk, baking soda, flour, powdered sugar, grated chocolate, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

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. Dissolve the cream of tartar and baking soda in the milk, then add to the mixture.

  5. Gradually add the flour, mixing until smooth.

  6. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Make the frosting and finish

  1. For the frosting, beat the reserved egg whites until stiff.

  2. Gradually add the powdered sugar, then fold in the grated chocolate and vanilla.

  3. Frost the cake while it is still hot.

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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps build a light texture.
Eggs
Yolks add richness and structure, and whites whipped to stiff peaks give the frosting its airy body.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the cream of tartar and milk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
Grated chocolate
Adds deep chocolate flavor and color to the cake and frosting.

The step that matters

Beating the reserved egg whites until stiff. Whites must be beaten to firm peaks without overbeating, since the foam holds the air that gives the frosting lightness. Folding in the sugar and chocolate gently helps keep that air in place.

“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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