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Dessert

Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake with a chocolate batter, vanilla, and marshmallow filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 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 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.

Make the chocolate mixture

  1. Combine ½ cup sweet milk, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup bitter chocolate, and 1 egg yolk in a saucepan.

  2. Boil together and let cool.

  3. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Make and bake the batter

  1. Cream ½ cup butter and 2 egg yolks in a mixing bowl.

  2. Add ½ cup sweet milk and mix well.

  3. Combine 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon vinegar in another bowl.

  4. Mix into the butter mixture.

  5. Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the batter and beat hard for 5 minutes.

  6. Pour batter into a greased cake pan.

  7. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the topping

  1. Boil 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup water, and 1 tablespoon vinegar together.

  2. Pour the hot mixture over 2 beaten egg whites.

  3. Fold in a few marshmallows.

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. Milk + buttertop 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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor in the crumb.
Bitter chocolate
Supplies the chocolate flavor and deep color of the cake.
Baking soda
Reacts with the vinegar to produce gas that lifts and aerates the batter.
Egg whites
Whipped into the hot sugar syrup to form a light, stable marshmallow-style topping.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and contributes a molasses flavor.

The step that matters

Pour the hot sugar syrup over the beaten egg whites. The syrup must be hot and poured in a thin stream while beating so it cooks the egg white proteins and forms a stable, glossy foam instead of a runny or grainy one.

“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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