Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Fudge
Ingredients
Directions
Make the fudge
Mix sugar and cream in a saucepan.
Heat until hot, then add grated chocolate.
Once it boils, add butter.
Stir vigorously and constantly until thick.
Remove from heat and beat until quite cool.
Set
Pour into buttered tins.
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 + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + chocolatetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,543 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White sugar
- Provides sweetness and, as it dissolves and crystallises, the fudge's firm, grainy body.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the fudge a smooth, rich texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat that softens the texture and gives a richer mouthfeel.
- Baker's chocolate
- Supplies the chocolate flavour and fat that shape the fudge's richness.
The step that matters
Beating until quite cool. Beating while the mixture cools forces fine sugar crystals to form, giving a smooth, creamy texture. Beating while it is still hot can leave the fudge grainy.
“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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