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Dessert

Chocolate Ice Cream

A frozen dessert made from milk, sugar, eggs, cocoa powder, and heavy cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓

Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Scald the milk in a saucepan.

  2. Gradually add the sugar and eggs, mixing well.

  3. In a small bowl, mix the cocoa powder with a little milk until smooth, then add to the mixture.

  4. Beat the mixture for a moment, then place it over low heat.

  5. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens, then remove from heat.

Cool and freeze

  1. Let it cool completely, then stir in the heavy cream.

  2. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

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 + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Cocoa powder + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together826 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Sugar + cocoa powdertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

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 cook and add richness to the base.
Heavy cream
Adds fat for a smooth, creamy texture in the frozen ice cream.
Sugar
Sweetens the base and helps keep the frozen ice cream soft.
Unsweetened cocoa powder
Provides the chocolate flavour and colour.
Whole milk
Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken and the cream enriches.

The step that matters

Stir constantly until the mixture thickens. Egg proteins can scramble if the custard overheats over low heat, leaving it grainy. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly so it thickens smoothly.

“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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