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Dessert

Chocolate Loaf Cake

A moist chocolate loaf cake made with butter, sugar, eggs, grated potatoes, milk, flour, cocoa, spices, walnuts, raisins, and beaten egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Chocolate Loaf Cake

Why it works: Vanilla and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Chocolate Loaf 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

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

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.

  2. Add the egg yolks and mix well.

  3. Stir in the hot grated potatoes and milk.

  4. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until combined.

  6. Fold in the chopped walnuts and raisins.

  7. Finally, gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for about 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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. Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  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. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air and add richness and tender texture.
Eggs
Egg yolks add richness and binding; whipped whites lighten the batter and help it rise.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the loaf rises and becomes light.
Grated potatoes
Add moisture so the cake stays soft and moist.
Cocoa powder
Gives the cake its chocolate flavor and deep color.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Whipped egg whites trap air that makes the loaf light. Stirring them vigorously deflates the foam, so fold gently until just combined.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

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