Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Mocha 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.
Prepare and bake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix sugar, eggs, flour, Mocha extract, and baking powder.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Make the filling
For the filling, whip the cream and mix in Mocha and powdered sugar to taste.
Add the filling when ready to serve.
Ice and serve
For the icing, beat the egg white and gradually add confectioner's sugar and Mocha extract.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Provide structure and, when whipped, lift that makes the cake light.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the cake crumb as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the cake a tender crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness to the filling.
The step that matters
Folding the whipped egg whites into the batter. Fold the whites in gently and evenly. Overmixing or deflating them releases the air that gives the cake its lift, so it can turn out dense and flat.
“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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