Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the flour and sweet milk alternately until well combined.
Melt the Baker's chocolate in a pan with enough hot water to cover it, then set it in a pan of boiling water for three minutes.
Allow the chocolate to cool, then add it to the batter and mix well.
Bake and frost
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
For frosting, mix the powdered sugar with the cooled chocolate and spread it over the cake like jelly.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and liquid to hydrate the flour and form the batter.
- Baker's chocolate
- Supplies the chocolate flavor and color throughout the cake and frosting.
The step that matters
Adding the cooled chocolate to the batter. If the melted chocolate is still warm, it can cause the butter to melt or the batter to split, affecting the cake's texture. Letting it cool first keeps the batter smooth and even.
“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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