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 moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the well-beaten eggs.
Reserve one egg white.
Add the milk, mixing well.
Sift the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda together twice.
Mix the sifted dry ingredients thoroughly with the batter.
Melt the chocolate over a tea kettle.
Stir the melted chocolate into the batter.
Bake and finish
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 35 minutes.
Let the cake cool.
Split the cooled cake in two with a sharp knife.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and creaming with sugar traps air for lightness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy texture when creamed with butter.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter, helping stabilize it and react with baking soda for rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic ingredients to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda and cream of tartar. Baking soda and cream of tartar must be sifted evenly through the flour and mixed thoroughly into the batter. Uneven distribution causes patchy rise, dense spots, or a soapy taste from pockets of soda.
“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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