Why it works: Cream and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,466 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Neapolitan Creams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the French cream, either boiled or unboiled.
Divide the cream into parts based on the number of colors you want.
Leave one part uncolored (white).
Color one part pink using fruit coloring or cochineal syrup.
Color another part brown with chocolate or coffee while the cream is still soft.
Color a part yellow with the yolk of an egg.
Quickly press the different colored creams separately, then together.
Cut into squares or desired shapes.
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 + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,964 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Syrup + chocolatetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,239 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Chocolate + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
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