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Dessert

Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

A layered chocolate cake with a chocolate icing, baked and served with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Chocolate Ice Cream 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 batter

  1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, and vanilla or brandy, and mix well.

Make the chocolate mixture

  1. In a saucepan, combine the grated chocolate, milk, sugar, and egg yolk.

  2. Boil until thick.

Bake and assemble

  1. Pour the chocolate mixture into the cake batter and mix well.

  2. Divide the batter into three layers.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.

  4. Layer the cake with boiled icing or whipped cream.

  5. Ice the 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.

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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 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

All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the layers together as the cake sets.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, and their proteins help set the batter as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, making the layers rise and turn light.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a rich flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps give a tender texture.
Bitter chocolate
Gives the cake its deep chocolate flavor and dark color.

The step that matters

Boil the chocolate mixture until thick. The egg yolk thickens as it heats, so the mixture needs enough heat to set. Stop once it is thick, because overheating can scramble the yolk or scorch the chocolate.

“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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