Skip to main content
Dessert

Chocolate Custard

A chocolate custard made with chocolate, sugar, milk, eggs, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate base

  1. In a clean saucepan, combine the crushed chocolate and sugar.

  2. Gradually pour in the milk while stirring continuously.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the eggs

  1. Separate the eggs, using the yolks of 4 and the whites of 3.

  2. Mix the yolks and egg whites with the chocolate mixture, ensuring it is not too hot.

  3. Strain the mixture through a fine strainer into a double boiler.

Thicken and serve

  1. Stir continuously until the custard thickens, about 20 minutes after the water in the pan boils.

  2. Remove from hot water and let it cool in the boiler.

  3. Stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla before serving in a glass dish or custard cups.

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. 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. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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
Egg proteins set when heated, thickening the milk mixture into a custard.
Milk
Forms the liquid base, providing moisture and a creamy texture.
Chocolate
Supplies the main flavour and richness, along with cocoa fat.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Stir continuously until the custard thickens. Egg proteins set as they heat, so too much heat or stopping the stirring can scramble the eggs into lumps. Gentle, constant stirring keeps the custard smooth and evenly thickened.

“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.

More chocolate custard recipes

Pie 12Cake 9Pudding 8Frozen 6Baked 5 See all 198 →

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipes