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Dessert

Chocolate Layer Cake

A layered cake made with butter, sugar, milk, vanilla, egg whites, flour, baking powder, and chocolate, baked in three pans.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 Layer Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter and gradually beat in the sugar until light.

  2. Add the sweet milk and vanilla, mixing well.

  3. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and set aside.

  4. Mix the baking powder with the flour.

  5. Alternately stir the flour and egg whites into the butter mixture.

  6. Oil three deep baking pans and divide two-thirds of the batter between two of them.

  7. Stir the melted chocolate into the remaining batter and pour it into the third pan.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 minutes.

  2. Layer the white cake on a large plate and spread with white glace.

  3. Add the dark cake on top and spread with white glace.

  4. Top with the third cake and spread with chocolate glace.

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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 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
Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, fine crumb and rich flavor.
Sugar
Creams with butter for lightness and adds sweetness and browning to the cake.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks to lighten the batter and give the cake its structure as it sets.
Flour
Forms the cake's main structure once set by heat.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cakes rise and become light.
Melted chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and color to the dark layer.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Stir the flour and whites in alternately and gently so the whipped foam keeps its air. Overmixing deflates the batter, leading to a dense, flat layer.

“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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