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Dessert

Chocolate Cream

A frozen chocolate custard made by heating milk, mixing with eggs and sugar, adding chocolate, cooking, cooling, then freezing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Chocolate Cream

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat the milk almost to boiling.

  2. Pour the hot milk gradually into the beaten eggs and sugar, stirring constantly.

  3. Stir in the chocolate mixture and beat well for 3 minutes.

  4. Return the mixture to the heat and cook until it thickens, stirring constantly.

  5. Remove from heat and let cool.

Finish and freeze

  1. Once cool, beat in the cream and freeze.

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.

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

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

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

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

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

  5. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

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

Eggs
Thicken the custard as they set when gently heated, giving it body.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel to the frozen custard.
Whole milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, carrying the other ingredients.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps soften its texture when frozen.
Chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and color of the custard.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard until it thickens. Egg proteins set as the mixture heats, so it must be stirred constantly over heat until it thickens. If overheated, the eggs can scramble and curdle the custard.

“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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