Why it works: Potato and coffee work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 167 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Mocha 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
Sift together the potato flour (or cornflour) and baking powder, then fold into the egg mixture.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Fill and ice
Once baked, let the cake cool, then slice it in half horizontally.
Spread a layer of coffee butter icing on the bottom half and place the top half back on.
Turn the cake upside down and pour the coffee glace icing over it.
Once the icing has set, use the remaining coffee butter icing to decorate the top.
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.
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Potato + coffeetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together167 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whipped with sugar to trap air, giving the cake its light, fluffy structure.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the eggs hold air when beaten.
- Potato flour or cornflour
- Provides a tender, fine crumb because it contains little gluten.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes airy.
The step that matters
Folding the flour into the egg mixture. Folding gently keeps the air beaten into the eggs. Stirring or overmixing knocks out that air, so the cake bakes up dense and flat.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, coffee, butter):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Sweet potatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, coffee, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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