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Hot Chocolate Sauce for Ice Cream

A hot chocolate sauce made with grated chocolate, sugar, water, cream, and a pinch of salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Norton, Caroline Trask · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Hot Chocolate Sauce for Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Mix one ounce of grated chocolate with one cup of sugar.

  2. Add one-fourth cup of water.

  3. Add one-fourth cup of cream.

  4. Add a speck of salt.

  5. Cook until it will form a soft ball when tried in cold water.

Serve

  1. Serve at once.

  2. Keep hot by setting in hot water.

  3. Use the sauce cold if preferred.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

255Calories
2 gProtein
14 gFat
30 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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. See the original page.

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

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

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

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

  3. Chocolate + sugartop 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

Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and body of the sauce.
Sugar
Sweetens the sauce and, as it cooks, helps it thicken into a syrup.
Cream
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture.
Water
Dissolves the sugar so the mixture cooks evenly.

The step that matters

Cooking to the soft-ball stage. Sugar syrup thickens as water boils off and its concentration rises. Cooking too little leaves a thin sauce, while cooking too long makes it stiff and grainy when cooled.

“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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