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Chocolate Cream

Chocolate cream for a sponge cake, finished with clear icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Margaret Brown · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 14 ingredients
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Chocolate Cream

Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate icing

  1. Place 1 gill of water, 1-1/2 cupfuls sugar, and 1/2 cup grated chocolate in a small saucepan over heat.

  2. Boil until thick and velvety.

  3. Remove from heat and add the whites of 2 eggs without beating.

  4. Use while hot to cover the top and sides of the cake.

  5. As it cools, it firms.

Make and bake the cake

  1. In a bowl, combine six eggs and 3 cupfuls sugar; beat for 5 minutes.

  2. Add 4 cupfuls flour, sifted, along with 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, pinch of salt, 1 cupful cold water, and 1 teaspoonful lemon extract.

  3. Bake in a shallow square cake pan in a quick, steady oven for 35 minutes.

Ice and finish

  1. While the cake is still hot, prepare clear icing: mix 1 cupful sugar, 1 tablespoonful lemon juice, and whites of 2 eggs until smooth.

  2. Pour icing over the cake.

  3. If the cake is not hot enough to dry the icing, place it in the mouth of a moderately warm oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

749Calories
21 gProtein
15 gFat
129 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
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 Margaret Brown. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Eggs
Whipped with sugar to trap air, giving the cake its light, risen structure.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure once its proteins set during baking.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and turn lighter.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps the icings set glossy and firm as they cool.
Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and thickens the boiled icing as it cooks.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the clear icing.

The step that matters

Adding the egg whites to the hot chocolate icing without beating. Stirring the whites in gently over residual heat keeps the icing smooth and glossy; beating or cooling it too early can make it grainy or dull, and it firms as it cools.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, chocolate, flour, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Datesfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, chocolate, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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