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Dessert

Devil Cake

A chocolate cake with a custard filling, baked in a loaf pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Devil 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 custard

  1. Combine grated chocolate, sweet milk, brown sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla in a saucepan; cook slowly over low heat until thickened, then set aside to cool.

Make the batter

  1. Cream butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl; add egg yolks and mix well.

  2. Stir in milk and sifted flour until combined.

  3. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

  4. Gently mix in the cooled custard and add baking soda dissolved in warm water.

  5. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan or jelly tins.

Bake and rest

  1. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. For best flavor, prepare at least one week before serving.

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. Milk + buttertop 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
Egg whites are folded in for lift, and yolks add richness and structure to the batter.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb once baked.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and add fat for a tender texture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a caramel note to the cake and custard.
Grated chocolate
Gives the cake its chocolate flavor and deep color in the custard.
Baking soda
Reacts with the batter to help it rise and promotes browning.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard slowly over low heat. Chocolate and egg yolk can scorch or curdle if heated too quickly. Gentle heat lets the mixture thicken smoothly before it is cooled and folded into the batter.

“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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