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Dessert

Chocolate Layer Cake

A multi-layer chocolate cake with chocolate filling and frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 Layer 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.

Make the cake batter

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

  2. In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until well combined.

  3. Add the butter and sweet milk, mixing until smooth.

  4. Gradually add the flour, baking powder, and vanilla, mixing well.

  5. Divide the batter into three layers and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the filling

  1. For the filling, boil the milk and sugar together.

  2. Add the chocolate and vanilla, boiling for 10 minutes until slightly thickened.

  3. Let the filling cool before spreading between the layers.

Make and finish the frosting

  1. For the frosting, combine sugar, milk, chocolate, butter, and baking soda in a saucepan.

  2. Cook slowly until it forms a very soft ball in water.

  3. Chill the frosting without stirring, then beat until creamy.

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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 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. Vanilla + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,730 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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
Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender crumb to the cake.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the layers rise and become light.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and stay moist.
Chocolate
Gives the filling and frosting their flavor and deep color.

The step that matters

Cooking the frosting to a very soft ball. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration to set correctly. Cooking too little leaves the frosting runny, while cooking too long makes it hard. Chilling it without stirring lets fine sugar crystals form for a creamy texture when beaten.

Swap the walnut

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, vanilla, chocolate. 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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