Skip to main content
Dessert

Chocolate Syrup

A sweet syrup made from sugar, water, chocolate, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a large pot, combine the sugar and water to make a syrup.

  2. Cook the mixture until it reaches 28 degrees on a saccharometer.

Finish the chocolate syrup

  1. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate until fully melted.

  2. Cool the syrup to 200°F (93°C) and then add the vanilla extract.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Sugar
Dissolves into water and cooks into a thick syrup that gives the sauce its body and sweetness.
Confectioners dipping chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and, once melted in, richness and fat for a smooth sauce.
Water
Dissolves the sugar so it can be cooked into a syrup without crystallising.
Vanilla extract
Adds aroma that rounds out and complements the chocolate flavour.

The step that matters

Cool the syrup before adding the vanilla. Vanilla extract's aroma is volatile and fades under prolonged high heat, so it is added only after the syrup has cooled to 200°F.

“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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipes