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Dessert

Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake made with butter, sugar, eggs, milk, baking powder, flour, and chocolate frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 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.

Make the batter

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

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the 3 egg yolks and mix well.

  4. Stir in the milk and baking powder.

  5. Gradually add the sifted flour and mix until smooth.

  6. In a separate bowl, beat the 2 egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  7. Fold the beaten egg whites into the batter gently.

  8. Pour the batter into two long cake tins.

Bake and frost

  1. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. For the frosting, beat the 2 egg whites to stiff peaks.

  3. Gradually add the 1½ cups of sugar and beat until glossy.

  4. Mix in the grated chocolate and vanilla extract.

  5. Spread the frosting on the cooled 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.

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

Eggs
Yolks add richness and emulsify the batter; beaten whites add lift and an airy structure.
Butter
Fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps the creamed butter hold air; in the frosting it makes it glossy.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, making the cake rise.
Milk
Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form the batter.

The step that matters

Fold the beaten egg whites into the batter gently. The whites hold air bubbles that give the cake its lift. Stirring vigorously knocks that air out, leaving a denser, flatter cake.

“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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