Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cream Chocolate Caramels
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
In a granite-ware saucepan, mix sugar, molasses, thick cream, butter, and chocolate.
Place over the fire and stir until the mixture boils.
Cook until a few drops harden when dropped into ice water.
Set and cut
Pour into well-buttered pans, about three inches deep.
When nearly cold, mark into squares.
Place in a very cold place to harden.
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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Cream + buttertop 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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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, the firm body of the caramel.
- Molasses
- Adds depth, colour and a deeper sweetness to the caramel.
- Thick cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the caramel a softer, creamier texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, helping the caramel feel smooth rather than brittle.
- Chocolate
- Adds chocolate flavour and fat, and helps set a firm, rich texture.
The step that matters
Cook until a few drops harden in ice water. Sugar syrup firms as its temperature rises and water boils off. Stopping too early leaves caramels soft and sticky, while cooking too far makes them hard and brittle. The ice-water test checks the stage by sight and feel.
“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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