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Dessert

Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake with a chocolate filling made from sugar, cream, and grated chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix the brown sugar and butter until creamy.

  3. Add the beaten yolks of the eggs.

  4. Mix in the flour and water.

  5. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

  6. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.

Bake and make the filling

  1. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

  2. For the filling, boil the sugar, cream, and grated chocolate until it strands when poured.

  3. Remove from heat.

  4. Pour over the beaten egg whites.

  5. Add vanilla.

  6. Beat until thickened.

  7. Spread between the layers, on top, and around the sides of the cake.

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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
Yolks enrich the batter and whites, folded in, lighten the crumb and add structure.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the batter and adds moisture and a deeper flavour.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and richness to the batter.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Beaten egg whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, leaving a dense cake.

“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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