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Dessert

Chocolate Eclair

Chocolate eclair is a pastry filled with whipped cream and topped with melted chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and chocolate 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 Eclair

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°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 choux dough

  1. In a saucepan, bring water and butter to a boil.

  2. Add flour and stir until the mixture forms a ball.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

  4. Beat in eggs one at a time until smooth.

Bake and fill

  1. Drop spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20-25 minutes.

  2. Let cool, then slice open and fill with whipped cream mixed with powdered sugar and vanilla.

  3. Melt chocolate and drizzle over the filled eclairs.

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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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
Adds fat and richness, and melts into the boiling water to start the dough.
All-purpose flour
Its starch gelatinizes with the hot liquid to form the dough's structure.
Eggs
Add moisture and structure, and their proteins set so the puffed shell holds its shape.
Heavy cream
Provides moisture and richness in the whipped filling.
Dark chocolate
Forms a glossy, slightly bitter coating over the filled eclairs.

The step that matters

Beat in eggs one at a time until smooth. The dough must be smooth and glossy but still firm enough to hold its shape. Adding eggs gradually lets you judge the consistency, since too much egg makes the dough slack and it will not puff properly in the oven.

“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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