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Dessert

Chocolate Filling

A chocolate filling made with egg yolks, sugar, butter, sweet cream, chocolate, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Filling

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine egg yolks, sugar, butter, and sweet cream in a saucepan.

  2. Heat over medium heat until it reaches boiling point.

  3. Stir in the chocolate and cook until thick.

  4. Add vanilla and beat until ready to spread on the cake.

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set with heat, giving the filling body.
Sweet cream
Adds richness and moisture so the filling stays smooth and spreadable.
Baker's chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and, as it melts, helps the filling thicken.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps balance the bitterness of the chocolate.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth texture and a glossy, rich mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Cook until thick after adding the chocolate. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can curdle if overheated or cooked too hard. Keep the heat moderate and stir constantly so the filling thickens smoothly without scrambling.

“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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