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Dessert

Chocolate White Cake

A layered cake with white and chocolate layers, made with butter, sugar, milk, vanilla, egg whites, flour, baking powder, and melted chocolate.

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 White 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.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. Add the milk a little at a time and mix in the vanilla.

  3. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  4. Mix the baking powder with the flour.

  5. Stir the flour and egg whites alternately into the butter mixture.

Bake

  1. Butter three deep cake pans and spread two-thirds of the batter in two of them.

  2. Stir the melted chocolate into the remaining batter and spread it in the third pan.

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

Assemble

  1. Layer the white cake on a large plate and spread with white icing.

  2. Add the dark cake on top and spread with white icing.

  3. Top with the third cake and spread with chocolate icing.

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
Adds fat and richness, giving the cake a tender crumb and flavour.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the cake its light structure and lift.
All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cakes rise.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep it tender and moist.
Chocolate
Adds flavour and colour to the dark layer.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Stirring the flour and whipped egg whites alternately, gently, keeps the air bubbles in the whites so the cake rises light. Overmixing deflates the foam and produces a dense 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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