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Dessert

Brown Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake made with brown sugar, butter, eggs, sour milk, baking soda, hot water, chocolate, flour, and vanilla, topped with a brown sugar filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Brown 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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, beat together the brown sugar, butter, eggs, and sour milk.

  3. Dissolve the baking soda in hot water.

  4. Grate the chocolate.

  5. Add the grated chocolate to the hot water with the baking soda and stir well.

  6. Combine the chocolate mixture with the batter.

  7. Add the flour and vanilla to the mixture.

  8. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.

  9. Bake for about 30-35 minutes.

Make the filling

  1. Boil the brown sugar, cream, and butter until it forms a string when dripped from a spoon.

  2. Remove from heat.

  3. Stir until cool and thick enough to spread.

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

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

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

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

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

Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps give the cake its brown color and flavor.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets.
Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the cake rises, and it adds moisture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.

The step that matters

Boiling the filling sugar mixture. The mixture must reach the right stage, forming a thread when dripped, before cooling. Too little cooking leaves a runny filling that won't set; too much makes it hard and grainy once cool.

“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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