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Dessert

Vassar Fudge

A rich fudge made with sugar, bitter chocolate, cream, fondant, glucose, cocoa powder, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Vassar Fudge

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 ↓

Vassar Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fudge

  1. In a large kettle, combine 5 lbs of sugar, 1 lb of bitter chocolate, and ½ gallon of cream.

  2. Stir continuously and cook until the mixture reaches 238°F (114°C) or a very soft ball stage.

  3. Remove from heat and stir briskly until it starts to thicken.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture onto wax paper laid on a slab, spreading it out to about ½ inch thick.

  2. When cold, mark into one-inch squares and break apart for storage.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  3. Cream + cocoa powdertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together826 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Forms the bulk of the fudge and sets into a sweet, crystalline texture as it cools.
Bitter chocolate
Adds deep chocolate flavor and firmness to the finished fudge.
Cream
Supplies fat and moisture that make the fudge smooth and creamy rather than brittle.

The step that matters

Stirring while the mixture thickens. Brisk stirring after cooking encourages fine sugar crystals to form, giving a smooth texture. Stirring too early or too little can leave the fudge grainy or cause it to set unevenly.

“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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