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Dessert

Nelly's Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake with a chocolate frosting made from butter, sugar, eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, and grated chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Nelly's Chocolate 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 cake

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

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

  3. Add the eggs (4 yolks and 2 whites) and mix well.

  4. Stir in the milk and baking powder.

  5. Gradually add the flour and mix until smooth.

  6. Pour the batter into a long shallow pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the frosting and finish

  1. For the frosting, beat the reserved egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Gradually add 1½ cups of sugar and mix until glossy.

  3. Fold in the grated chocolate and vanilla.

  4. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake and cut into diamond slices.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving a tender, fine crumb and rich flavor.
Eggs
Provide structure and richness; whites whipped to stiff peaks give the frosting its airy body.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake, tenderizes the crumb, and helps the frosting become glossy and stable.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and richness to the frosting.

The step that matters

Beat the reserved egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites under-beaten or greasy with yolk will not hold air, so the frosting stays loose. Whip them clean and dry, then add sugar gradually so the foam stays stable and glossy.

“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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