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Dessert

Fillings for Layer Cake

A chocolate filling for layer cakes made with sugar, cream, butter, salt, and chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Fillings for Layer Cake

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cut the chocolate into small pieces.

  2. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook.

  3. Test the mixture in cold water; when it reaches the soft ball stage, remove from heat.

  4. Allow to cool, then beat until thick and creamy.

  5. Spread the filling on the cake without stirring after it begins to boil.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + chocolatetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Dissolves and cooks into the syrup that sets into a thick, creamy filling.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, giving the filling a smooth, soft texture.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, tender mouthfeel in the finished filling.
Chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and firms the filling as it cools.

The step that matters

Remove from heat at the soft ball stage. Sugar syrup keeps concentrating as it cooks, so going past the soft ball stage makes the filling hard instead of creamy. Stirring after boiling starts can trigger sugar crystals, which make it grainy.

“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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