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Dessert

Mocha Cream Cake

A layered cake with mocha‑flavored batter, coffee‑infused filling, and coffee‑sugar frosting.

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 ↓

Mocha Cream 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 cake

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

  2. Sift together the flour, sugar, and baking powder.

  3. In a bowl, break the eggs and add the milk. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and beat with an egg whisk.

  4. Add the melted butter and vanilla, then mix well.

  5. Divide the batter into 2 large cake pans and bake until golden.

Make the filling

  1. For the filling, boil the coffee in water until reduced to ½ cup.

  2. In a bowl, cream the unsalted butter, then gradually add the powdered sugar.

  3. Mix in the black coffee and vanilla slowly to avoid curdling. Beat until light and creamy, then spread between the cake layers.

Finish with frosting

  1. For the frosting, mix the black coffee with powdered sugar until thick.

  2. Spread the frosting over the top of the cake.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  4. Vanilla + coffeetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,391 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the batter set and bind.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and become light.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in both the cake and the creamy filling.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps browning while keeping the cake tender.
Powdered sugar
Dissolves easily into the butter, giving the filling and frosting a smooth, thick texture.

The step that matters

Adding the coffee and vanilla to the filling. Adding liquid slowly to creamed butter and sugar keeps the emulsion stable; adding it too quickly can make the mixture look curdled and separated.

“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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