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Dessert

German Chocolate Cake

A layered cake made with chocolate, butter, eggs, milk, vanilla, powdered sugar, flour, baking powder, boiling water, and nuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

German 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

  1. Dissolve the chocolate in boiling water.

  2. Beat the butter until creamy, then gradually add the powdered sugar while beating continuously.

  3. Add the egg yolks and beat again, then mix in the milk, melted chocolate, and flour.

  4. Beat the mixture vigorously.

  5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the mixture.

  6. Add the vanilla and baking powder, mixing quickly and lightly.

Bake and assemble

  1. Pour the batter into four greased cake pans and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 15 to 20 minutes.

  2. Spread each layer with melted chocolate or beaten egg whites mixed with powdered sugar until stiff.

  3. Layer chopped nuts between the cake layers and on top.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 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. Vanilla + nutstop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together638 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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
Whites whipped to stiff peaks create air and lift, giving the cake a light, tender crumb.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it sets in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
Chocolate
Provides chocolate flavour and deep colour throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold the air that makes the cake light. Stirring them in vigorously or too long knocks out that air, so the layers bake up dense. Fold gently and only until combined.

Swap the nuts

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, butter, egg, milk, vanilla, sugar, flour. 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.

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