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Dessert

Chocolate Pastry Cream

A chocolate‑flavored custard made with milk, butter, chocolate, sugar, flour, egg yolks, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 Pastry Cream

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil the milk, butter, and grated chocolate together.

  2. Mix the sugar and flour in a bowl, then beat them into the boiling milk.

  3. Stir continuously to prevent burning, then set the saucepan aside.

  4. Beat the egg yolks with a spoonful of milk, then stir them into the mixture.

  5. Cook until well thickened, then let cool and flavor with vanilla.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that the flour and egg yolks thicken into a smooth cream.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps soften the cream's flavor against the chocolate.
Flour
Starch swells when heated in the liquid, thickening the cream.
Egg yolks
Proteins set during cooking, adding richness and further thickening the cream.
Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and contributes fat that makes the cream rich.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stir continuously while the mixture cooks. Milk solids and starch settle on the hot base of the pan and scorch easily. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly, prevents burning, and lets the starch thicken the cream 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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