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 ↓
Black 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. 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
Melt the grated baker's chocolate and stir it into the batter.
Fold in the eggs until fully incorporated.
Bake and finish
Pour the batter into greased cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Once cooled, layer the cakes and frost with boiled icing flavored with lemon or vanilla.
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.
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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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Milk + flourtop 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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter as it sets.
- Butter
- Adds tenderness and flavor, and creaming it with sugar traps air for a lighter crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown while creaming aerates the batter.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Baker's chocolate
- Gives the cake its deep chocolate flavor and dark color.
The step that matters
Folding in the eggs. Eggs should be fully incorporated without overmixing, since vigorous stirring develops gluten in the flour and can make the cake tough and dense while leaving streaks of unmixed egg.
“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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