Why it works: Vanilla and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Cake, Chocolate
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the butter into a cream.
Mix in the powdered chocolate and caster sugar; work together for 10 minutes.
Gradually mix in the eggs and flour alternately.
Work the mixture for another 15 minutes.
Bake
Pour into a buttered and papered mold dusted with sugar and flour.
Bake for 30 minutes until done.
Cool and ice
Let it cool completely before icing with chocolate glace.
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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Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Vanilla and sugar 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
- Butter
- Provides richness and tenderness, and carries flavour through the batter.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding, and help the cake rise and set as it bakes.
- Fine flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake together once baked.
- Caster sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the butter cream to a light, aerated texture.
- Powdered vanilla chocolate
- Adds chocolate flavour and colour to the cake crumb.
The step that matters
Let it cool completely before icing. A warm cake softens and melts the chocolate glacé, so the icing slides off or turns greasy. Full cooling lets the crumb firm up so the glacé sets smoothly on top.
“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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