Name: Delicious Chocolate Cake
Ingredients: 8 egg whites; 2 cups sugar; 1 cup butter; 3 cups flour; 1 cup sweet milk; 3 teaspoons baking powder; 1 cake of sweet chocolate

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Delicious Chocolate Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the batter

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the butter until creamy, then stir in the sugar and beat until light.
Add the milk, then the flour and beaten egg whites, mixing well.
Divide the batter into two equal parts; grate the chocolate into one half.

Bake and assemble

Pour the batters into prepared cake pans, alternating between light and dark.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Spread layers with custard and alternate the white and dark 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.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,128 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 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

Egg whites: Whipped into the batter to add lightness and help the cake rise and set.
Butter: Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich texture.
Sugar: Beaten with butter for a light texture and to add sweetness and browning.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes airy.
Sweet chocolate: Grated into one batter half to add flavor and create the dark layers.

“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.