Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Beat the egg whites and yolks separately, then combine them.
Add the sugar and melted butter to the egg mixture and mix well.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together, then gradually add to the egg mixture.
Add enough milk to achieve a moderately stiff batter.
Bake and fill
Divide the batter into two layer cake tins and bake in the preheated oven.
For the filling, melt the chocolate in boiling water on the stove.
Stir in icing sugar until it thickens into a paste.
Spread the filling between the warm cake layers and ice the top.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Whipped and combined to give the cake structure and lift through trapped air.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the cake its structure once baked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps keep it tender and moist.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness, tenderness and flavour.
- Unsweetened chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and, melted with icing sugar, the filling.
The step that matters
Adding enough milk to reach a moderately stiff batter. Too little milk leaves the batter dense and hard to spread, while too much thins it so the layers spread and bake up heavy or uneven. Holding the batter at a moderately stiff consistency gives a balanced crumb.
“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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