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Dessert

Chocolate Frosting

A sweet icing made from sugar, water, egg whites, and chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over medium heat until it forms a string consistency.

Make the frosting

  1. Beat the egg whites in a mixing bowl until stiff peaks form.

  2. Slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the beaten egg whites while continuing to beat.

  3. Add the chocolate to the mixture.

  4. Beat until well combined and smooth.

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.

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 + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Egg + chocolatetop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,448 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

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

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Dissolves into the water to make a syrup that gives the frosting its sweetness and body.
Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
Chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and color to the frosting.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot syrup into the egg whites. Pour slowly while beating constantly. The hot syrup cooks the egg whites as it mixes in, so a fast pour or pausing the mixer can leave lumps or a loose, unstable frosting.

“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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