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Dessert

Chocolate Frosting

A sweet frosting made from sugar, milk, chocolate, butter, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, milk, grated chocolate, and butter.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.

  3. Remove from heat and set the saucepan in a dish of cold water.

  4. Stir until the frosting thickens.

  5. Add vanilla and mix well.

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. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, 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

White sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it dissolves and cooks, helps give the frosting body.
Milk
Adds liquid that dissolves the sugar and carries the chocolate into a smooth mixture.
Grated chocolate
Supplies the chocolate flavour and, as it melts into the liquid, adds richness.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother, glossier texture and a richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stir until the frosting thickens. Stirring while the mixture cools in cold water keeps it smooth and evenly mixed, and the sugar crystallises as it thickens, so stopping too early leaves it runny and stopping too late can make it grainy or stiff.

“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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