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Dessert

Cocoa Cream Cake

A chocolate cake topped with a cocoa‑based cream icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cocoa and vanilla 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 ↓

Cocoa Cream Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the cake

  1. Combine cocoa, sugar, and water in a double boiler and cook, stirring constantly, until thick.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl, add butter and brown or granulated sugar, and beat well.

  3. Add the egg and milk, then mix in the flour and baking soda.

  4. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.

Make the icing

  1. For the icing, combine sugar and milk in a buttered saucepan and cook to the soft-boil stage.

  2. Cool slightly, add vanilla, and stir until creamy.

  3. Spread two-thirds of this icing over the cake.

  4. To the remaining icing, add cocoa and stir over hot water until blended.

  5. Spread over the first icing.

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. Cocoa + vanillatop 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. 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. Cocoa + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together643 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

Cocoa
Gives the cake and cream its chocolate flavour and dark colour.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich mouthfeel.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cocoa mixture to help the cake rise and lighten.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and icing and helps keep them moist and tender.

The step that matters

Cook the icing to the soft-boil stage. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration to set into a creamy icing; undercooked icing stays runny and overcooked icing turns hard and grainy as it cools.

Swap the cocoa

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Hazelnutfits about as well
  4. Cocoathe original

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