Skip to main content
Dessert

Mahogany Cake

A sweet cake made with sugar, butter, sweet milk, flour, baking soda, grated chocolate, eggs, vanilla, and a chocolate icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Mahogany 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.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. Cream together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the sweet milk and mix well.

  4. Combine the flour and baking soda in a separate bowl.

  5. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk.

  6. Add the dissolved baking soda to the mixture.

  7. Cook the grated chocolate in ½ cup of milk until melted.

  8. Cool the melted chocolate.

  9. Stir the cooled chocolate into the batter.

  10. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well combined.

Bake and ice

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.

  2. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

  3. Combine 2 ½ cups sugar, 1 cup milk, egg yolks, and butter in a saucepan for the icing.

  4. Beat the icing mixture until cool.

  5. Spread the cooled icing over 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. 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. 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
Creams with the sugar to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the milk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the crumb.
Grated chocolate
Adds deep chocolate flavour and colour to the batter.
Egg yolks
Enrich the icing and help it thicken into a smooth, creamy texture.

The step that matters

Beat the icing mixture until cool. Egg yolks and sugar cooked with milk can curdle or become grainy if overheated, and stirring as it cools helps keep the icing smooth and thick.

“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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipes