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Dessert

Princess Fudge

A chocolate fudge made with sugar, cocoa, cream, salt, butter, vanilla, cream of tartar fondant, and glucose.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Princess Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the fudge

  1. In a large pot, combine sugar, cocoa powder, cream, and salt.

  2. Cook over medium heat until the mixture reaches 236°F (113°C).

  3. Add butter and continue cooking until it reaches 238°F (114°C).

Finish and set

  1. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract, cream of tartar fondant, and glucose.

  2. Stir until the mixture is quite thick.

  3. Pour the fudge onto a paper-lined board.

  4. Once cold, mark and cut into desired shapes.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Cocoa powder + vanillatop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Cocoa powder + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together826 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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
Provides the bulk of the sweetness and, once cooled and agitated, forms the fine crystal structure of the fudge.
Cocoa powder
Supplies the chocolate flavour and dark colour of the fudge.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, giving the fudge a smoother, softer texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel.
Glucose
Interferes with sugar crystallisation, helping the fudge stay smooth and less grainy.
Cream of tartar fondant
Adds acidity and invert sugar, which further limits large sugar crystals for a smooth set.

The step that matters

Cooking to the stated temperatures before stirring. Sugar concentration at the final temperature controls how firm the fudge sets. Undercooking leaves it soft and runny, while overcooking makes it hard and crumbly. Stirring only after the target temperature keeps crystals fine and the texture smooth.

“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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