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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and mix well.
Beat in the 4 whole eggs and 2 egg whites until combined.
Sift together the flour and baking powder, then gradually add to the wet mixture.
Pour the batter into a baking sheet about 1 inch thick.
Make the icing
Melt the chocolate on the back part of the stove.
In a separate bowl, beat the remaining egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gradually add sugar to the egg whites to make a stiff icing, then flavor with vanilla.
Finish and serve
Spread the icing thickly over the cooled cake and cut into squares.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Add structure as they set and bind the batter, and whipped whites add lift to the icing.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, when whipped with egg whites, stabilizes the icing.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and become light.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps form a smooth, pourable batter.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be whipped until stiff and then sugar added gradually; under-whipped or greasy whites will not hold the icing's shape, and sugar added too fast can cause it to weep or stay loose.
“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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