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Baking

Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake baked with eggs, sugar, butter, milk, flour, baking powder, cornstarch, brown sugar, chocolate, vanilla, and salt.

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 ↓

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.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the butter and mix well.

  4. Stir in the milk, flour, and baking powder until combined.

Make the custard

  1. In a separate saucepan, mix the cornstarch with a teacup of boiling milk.

  2. Add the brown sugar, chocolate, butter, vanilla, and salt to the saucepan.

  3. Boil the mixture for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly.

Layer and bake

  1. Layer the cake batter in two loaf pans, alternating with the custard mixture.

  2. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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

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

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Eggs
Beaten with sugar to trap air, giving the cake lift and a light, fluffy crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, causing it to rise in the oven.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk into a custard that stays moist and smooth between the batter layers.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
Cake chocolate
Adds chocolate flavour to the custard layer.

The step that matters

Boil the custard while stirring constantly. Cornstarch only thickens fully when it reaches a boil, and stirring prevents lumps and scorching on the bottom of the saucepan. Undercooked starch leaves the custard thin and pasty.

“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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