Why it works: Coffee and cocoa work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 91 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Fudge 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the milk and strong coffee.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Coffee + cocoatop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together91 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Milk + cocoatop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together643 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, fine crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light texture when creamed with butter.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the batter as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Cocoa
- Adds chocolate flavor and deep color to the cake.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
The step that matters
Stir in the dry ingredients gently, just until combined. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form. Overmixing makes the cake tough and dense, so stop stirring as soon as no dry streaks remain.
Swap the cocoa
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, milk, coffee, flour):
- Almondfits better
- Cocoathe original
- Hazelnutfits about as well
- Walnutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, coffee, flour. 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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