Skip to main content
Dessert

Black Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake with layers of chocolate batter and chocolate filling, topped with grated coconut.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Black Chocolate Cake

Why it works: Vanilla and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,294 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Black 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.

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 eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  4. Dissolve the baking soda in a little boiling water and add it to the mixture.

  5. Stir in the sour milk and grated chocolate.

  6. Gradually add the flour, mixing until just combined.

  7. Pour the batter into jelly tins to create four layers.

  8. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Make the filling

  1. For the filling, combine the white sugar with a little cold water in a saucepan.

  2. Add the beaten egg whites and grated chocolate, then cook over boiling water until thickened.

  3. Flavor with vanilla extract.

Assemble and finish

  1. Spread the filling between the layers and on the outside of the cake.

  2. Top with grated coconut.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Vanilla + coconuttop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  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, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, binding the batter as the cake sets.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the layers together as the cake bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Sour milk
Adds moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
Egg whites
Cook into the filling, thickening it and giving it a light, set texture.

The step that matters

Cooking the filling over boiling water until thickened. Egg whites set when heated but can turn grainy or curdle if cooked too hard or too fast. Gentle heat over simmering water thickens the filling smoothly.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, milk, chocolate, vanilla):

  1. Coconutthe original
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Blueberryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, milk, chocolate, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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 →

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipes