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 gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the 3 egg yolks and mix well.
Stir in the sweet milk, cream of tartar, and baking soda dissolved in the milk.
Gradually add the flour, mixing until smooth.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
Make the frosting and finish
For the frosting, beat the reserved egg whites until stiff.
Gradually add the powdered sugar and grated chocolate, mixing until smooth.
Frost the cake while it is still hot.
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
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and emulsify the batter; reserved whites are beaten into the frosting for lightness.
- All-purpose flour
- Builds the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter and works with baking soda to help the cake rise and stay tender.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic components of the batter to produce gas that leavens the cake.
- Grated chocolate
- Gives the frosting its chocolate flavor and body.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites hold air only when beaten to stiff peaks; under-beaten or greasy whites collapse, leaving a dense, flat frosting. Any yolk or fat in the bowl prevents them from whipping properly.
“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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