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Dessert

Chocolate Eclair

A pastry filled with whipped cream and topped with melted chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. 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 pastry

  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.

  5. Drop spoonfuls onto a baking sheet.

Bake and fill

  1. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20-25 minutes until golden.

  2. Whip cream with sugar and vanilla until stiff.

  3. Slice eclairs and fill with whipped cream.

  4. Melt chocolate with milk and drizzle over 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 + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

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

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

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

All-purpose flour
Forms the starch structure of the dough that sets and holds the hollow shell.
Eggs
Add moisture and structure, and their proteins set during baking to hold the puffed shell.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the dough, helping it stay tender.
Heavy cream
Whipped into a stable, airy filling that adds richness and softness.
Chocolate
Melted to make a glossy topping that adds bittersweet flavor.

The step that matters

Beat in eggs one at a time until smooth. Adding eggs gradually lets each one emulsify fully into the starch paste. Added too fast, or with the dough too hot, the mixture can split or turn loose, and the shells may not puff well.

“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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