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
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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream together the dark brown sugar and butter.
Add the flour, sour milk, baking soda, vanilla extract, and eggs (except for one white).
Dissolve the chocolate in hot water, let it cool, and stir it into the batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Dark brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and gives the cake a deep, caramel-like flavor.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise and softens the crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas, helping the cake rise.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure, moisture and richness as they set in the oven.
The step that matters
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Cakes continue to set as they cool, so pulling them too early can leave a wet, sunken centre, while overbaking dries out the crumb. Checking the centre with a toothpick helps you judge doneness.
“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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