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 ↓
Chocolate Cake with Potatoes
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.
Make the batter
Cream together the butter, sugar, and egg yolks.
Add the hot mashed potatoes and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the potato mixture.
Stir in the melted chocolate and sweet milk.
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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
- Butter
- Adds fat that keeps the crumb tender and moist.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and stay soft.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and provide structure, with whites adding lift.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise.
- Mashed potatoes
- Add moisture and a soft, tender texture to the crumb.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Egg whites hold the air beaten into them, which gives the cake lift. Stirring vigorously knocks out that air, so the cake rises less and may turn out dense.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, sugar, flour, egg, chocolate):
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Arrowrootfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, sugar, flour, egg, chocolate. 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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