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Dessert

French Chocolate Cake

A layered chocolate cake with a custard filling, made from egg whites, butter, flour, and grated chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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French Chocolate Cake

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 ↓

French 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.

Make the cake batter

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

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff.

  3. In another bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.

  4. Add the egg yolks and mix well.

  5. Stir in the milk, then fold in the beaten egg whites.

  6. Sift together the flour and baking powder, then add to the mixture.

  7. For the chocolate layer, use the yolks and mix in the grated chocolate.

Bake and make the custard

  1. Bake the layers separately until done.

  2. For the custard, combine the eggs, milk, sugar, and flour in a saucepan.

  3. Cook over low heat until thickened, then cool and add vanilla.

Assemble

  1. Spread the custard between the layers and on top.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

Egg whites
Beaten until stiff and folded in, they give the cake a light, airy structure.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a tender crumb.
Sugar
Creamed with butter, it sweetens the cake and helps browning.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the layers rise.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavour and richness to the layer it is mixed into.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whipped whites. Stirring or deflating them makes the cake denser and less light after baking.

“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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