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
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.
Make the cake
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the well-beaten egg yolks and then the milk.
Sift the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda together twice, then mix thoroughly with the batter.
Melt the chocolate over a kettle and stir it into the batter.
Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 35 minutes.
Let the cake cool, then split it in two with a sharp knife.
Make the frosting
For the frosting, mix 1 cup sugar, 4 tablespoons water, and a pinch of cream of tartar, and boil until it threads.
Beat the egg white until stiff, then slowly stir in the syrup and beat until thick.
Assemble the cake
Spread the frosting on each half of the cake.
Make another frosting with 2 ounces of chocolate added, and cover the first frosting with it.
Press the two halves of the cake together.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
- Eggs
- Egg yolks enrich the batter and whites, beaten stiff, lighten the frosting.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten structure that holds the cake together.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds fat for a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, boiled with water, forms the frosting syrup.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
- Unsweetened chocolate
- Adds chocolate flavor and color to the batter and the frosting.
The step that matters
Boiling the frosting syrup. The sugar syrup must reach the thread stage so that, when beaten into the stiff egg white, it sets into a firm, glossy frosting rather than a runny one. Cream of tartar helps keep the syrup smooth and prevents crystallization.
“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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