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Dessert

Boiled Chocolate Frosting

A chocolate frosting made by melting chocolate, adding milk, sugar, cornstarch, butter, and vanilla, then spreading on cake.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓

Boiled Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the frosting

  1. Cut chocolate into pieces and melt over hot water until smooth.

  2. Gradually add milk and sugar while stirring constantly.

  3. Stir in cornstarch.

  4. Remove from heat, keeping it away from intense heat to prevent burning.

  5. When a soft ball can be formed in cold water, remove from stove.

  6. Add butter and beat for one minute.

  7. Add vanilla and beat for another minute.

Finish

  1. Spread the frosting 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. Vanilla + milktop 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Vanilla and sugar 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

Chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavor and the body that sets the frosting.
Sugar
Sweetens the frosting and helps it thicken as it cooks.
Milk
Liquid that dissolves the sugar and gives the frosting a creamy texture.
Cornstarch
Thickens the frosting so it holds its shape when spread.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, glossy, rich texture.

The step that matters

Removing from the heat at the soft ball stage. Sugar syrup keeps thickening as it cools, and overheating or cooking too long can make the frosting grainy or burn the chocolate. Pulling it off heat at the soft ball point, and keeping it away from intense heat, gives a smooth, spreadable result.

“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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