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Dessert

Chocolate Cake

A layered chocolate cake with chocolate filling and icing.

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 ↓

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.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. Cream together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the milk and eggs (except for the reserved egg white) and mix well.

  4. Sift together the flour and baking powder, then gradually add to the mixture until just combined.

Bake and fill

  1. Divide the batter into layers and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. For the filling, combine the grated chocolate, 1 cup of milk, cornstarch, sugar, and vanilla in a double boiler.

  3. Heat until the milk boils and the mixture thickens like cream, then remove from heat once the chocolate melts.

  4. Spread the filling between the layers of cake.

Make and spread the icing

  1. For the icing, mix the reserved egg white with the grated chocolate and confectioner's sugar in a small saucepan.

  2. Heat gently, placing the saucepan on top of a kettle to prevent burning, until dissolved.

  3. Spread the icing over the top of the cake.

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

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the cake sets.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a rich, moist crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the oven so the layers rise and become light.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps brown the crumb and tenderize it.
Cornstarch
Thickens the chocolate filling into a smooth, creamy custard.

The step that matters

Heating the filling in a double boiler. Cornstarch thickens only when the milk reaches a boil, and chocolate scorches easily. Gentle indirect heat in a double boiler lets the starch thicken evenly while the chocolate melts without burning.

“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.

More chocolate cake recipes

Filling 18French 14Marbled 13Black 11Dark 10Marble 7 See all 565 →

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