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Dessert

Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake made with sugar, butter, flour, chocolate, eggs, vanilla essence, baking powder, and milk, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Dissolve the chocolate in 2 tablespoons of milk.

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together.

  3. Add the eggs and a little flour to the mixture.

  4. Stir in the dissolved chocolate, remaining flour, and baking powder.

  5. Add a few drops of vanilla essence.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased baking tin.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour.

  3. Ice the cake with chocolate icing when cold.

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. Vanilla + milktop 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
Bind the batter and add structure and lift as they set in the oven.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness by coating flour and trapping air when creamed with sugar.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps trap air when creamed with butter.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes lighter.
Chocolate
Gives the cake its chocolate flavour and adds moisture and depth.

The step that matters

Creaming the butter and sugar together. Beating them until light and fluffy traps air bubbles that help the cake rise and give it a tender crumb. Under-creamed butter leaves a dense cake.

“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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