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Dessert

Chocolate Cakahels

A chocolate cake made with sugar, butter, sweet milk, chocolate, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Chocolate Cakahels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, butter, sweet milk, and baker's chocolate.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.

  3. To test, drop a spoonful onto a saucer; if it turns to sugar, it's ready.

Finish and cool

  1. Remove from heat, add vanilla extract, and pour into a buttered dish.

  2. Allow to cool, then cut into squares.

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. 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. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, sets into the firm body of the cake.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and mouthfeel.
Sweet milk
Liquid that dissolves the sugar and carries moisture through the mixture.
Baker's chocolate
Supplies the chocolate flavor and dark color.

The step that matters

Cooking until the mixture thickens. Stirring constantly prevents the sugar and milk from scorching on the bottom of the pan. The mixture must reach the point where the saucer test shows it has turned to sugar, because the concentration of sugar determines how firmly the cake sets when it cools.

“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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