Skip to main content
Dessert

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

A butter‑based chocolate frosting made with cocoa, confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cocoa and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 357 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the frosting

  1. Melt butter, add cocoa, sugar, salt, and milk.

  2. Heat to boiling point and boil about eight minutes.

  3. Remove from fire and beat until creamy.

Finish and serve

  1. Add vanilla and pour over cake.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

467Calories
10 gProtein
28 gFat
42 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Fannie Merritt Farmer. 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.

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. Cocoa + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together357 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. Cocoa + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together643 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

Butter
Adds fat that gives the frosting a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
Unsweetened powdered cocoa
Provides the chocolate flavour and dark colour of the frosting.
Confectioners' sugar
Adds sweetness and body, helping the frosting set thick and smooth.
Milk
Supplies liquid that dissolves the sugar and cocoa into a spreadable mixture.

The step that matters

Boil for about eight minutes, then beat. Boiling concentrates the sugar so the frosting thickens as it cools; beating while it is still warm encourages fine sugar crystals, giving a creamy rather than grainy texture.

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, vanilla):

  1. Almondfits about as well
  2. Cocoathe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Hazelnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, vanilla. 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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesCoconut PuddingCoconut Pudding26 recipesCoconut CakeCoconut Cake17 recipesCocoa Nut CandyCocoa Nut Candy11 recipes