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Dessert

Black Chocolate Cake

A dense chocolate cake made with cake flour, eggs, butter, sugar, and melted chocolate, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Black Chocolate Cake

Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Black Chocolate Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Sift flour once, measure, then add baking powder, baking soda, and salt; sift together three times.

  2. Cream the butter thoroughly, then gradually add sugar and cream together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add egg yolks and melted chocolate, blending well.

  4. Add flour alternately with water, a small amount at a time, beating until smooth after each addition.

  5. Stir in vanilla and fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour into a greased 10x10x2‑inch pan and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.

  2. Spread coconut seven‑minute frosting on 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.

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Vanilla and sugar 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

Cake flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Egg whites
Whipped to foam, they lighten the batter and help it rise.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the batter into a smooth, tender crumb.
Chocolate
Gives the cake its dark colour and deep chocolate flavour.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavour.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.

The step that matters

Folding in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only while whipped. Stirring them in vigorously knocks that air out, so the cake rises less and turns out denser. Fold gently until just combined.

“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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