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 ↓
Cream Chocolate Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
Dissolve the cocoa powder in a bowl.
Add sugar to the dissolved cocoa, adjusting to your taste.
Gradually stir in the cream until well combined.
Use
Use the icing to frost cakes or for decorating as desired.
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cocoa powder + creamtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together826 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Cocoa powder + sugartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,920 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
- Cocoa powder
- Provides the chocolate flavour and deep colour of the icing.
- Pure cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the icing a smooth, spreadable texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and body, balancing the bitterness of the cocoa.
The step that matters
Gradually stir in the cream. Adding cream slowly to the dissolved cocoa and sugar helps it blend evenly without lumps, giving a smooth, consistent icing.
“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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