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Dessert

Black Joe Sponge Cake

A chocolate sponge cake with coffee butter icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and cocoa work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 357 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Black Joe Sponge Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the cake

  1. Boil the chocolate and milk together until creamy, then set aside to cool.

  2. Beat the sugar and eggs until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the custard, then mix in the flour and baking powder. Stir in the vanilla.

  4. Bake in layers or a roasting pan at 350°F (175°C).

Make and spread the icing

  1. For the icing, mix the sugar and cocoa in a bowl.

  2. Add the butter and pour the boiling coffee over the mixture, stirring thoroughly.

  3. Spread the icing on the top and sides of the 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. Vanilla + cocoatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together357 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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
Beaten with sugar to trap air, giving the cake lightness and structure as it sets.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake crumb as its proteins set during baking.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
Chocolate
Adds rich chocolate flavour and some body to the cake batter.
Cocoa
Gives the icing deep chocolate flavour and a dark colour.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, glossy texture in the icing.

The step that matters

Beating the sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Whisking air into the eggs and sugar creates the foam that lifts the batter. Under-beating leaves a dense cake, while the rising agent alone cannot make up for lost air.

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chocolate, milk, sugar, egg, flour, vanilla, butter):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, milk, sugar, egg, flour, vanilla, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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