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Dessert

French Chocolate Cake

A layered French chocolate cake with custard filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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French Chocolate Cake

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 ↓

French 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 batter

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

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

  3. In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.

  4. Add the beaten yolks and mix well.

  5. Stir in the milk, then fold in the flour and baking powder.

  6. Divide the batter into two bowls; add grated chocolate to one bowl.

Bake and make the custard

  1. Pour the light batter into one layer and the chocolate batter into another.

  2. Bake the layers until a toothpick comes out clean.

  3. For the custard, combine 2 eggs, 1 pint milk, ½ cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon flour or cornstarch in a saucepan.

  4. Cook over low heat until thickened, then cool and flavor with vanilla.

Assemble

  1. Spread the custard between the layers and on 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and give the cake a light, airy structure.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and tenderness to the crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the layers rise.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and color to one of the two batters.
Egg yolks
Add richness and moisture, and help bind the batter.

The step that matters

Cook the custard over low heat. Starch and egg thicken as they heat, but high heat can scorch the milk or curdle the eggs. Gentle heat, with steady stirring, gives a smooth, thick custard.

“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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