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Dessert

Chocolate Nougat

A sweet, baked chocolate nougat with almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Chocolate Nougat

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the cake batter

  1. Sift the flour thoroughly before measuring.

  2. Sift the baking powder with the flour.

  3. Cream the butter.

  4. Gradually add the powdered sugar to the butter.

  5. Add the egg without beating.

  6. Mix thoroughly for 5 minutes.

  7. Incorporate the flavoring.

  8. Add the milk alternately with the flour.

Make the chocolate mixture

  1. Grate the chocolate.

  2. Combine the grated chocolate with sugar and water in a saucepan.

  3. Cook the mixture until thick, smooth, and glossy.

  4. Stir in the milk.

  5. Let the mixture cool to lukewarm.

Combine and bake

  1. Blend the two mixtures together.

  2. Fold in the blanched almonds.

  3. Bake in layers at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.

  4. Fill with plain boiled frosting flavored 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. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Chocolate + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Butter
Creamed with the sugar to give the batter structure and a tender crumb.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the layers once set by heat.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the layers rise lighter.
Egg
Helps bind the batter and adds richness and structure.
Chocolate
Gives the nougat its chocolate flavour and dark colour.
Chopped almonds
Add crunch and nutty flavour throughout the batter.

The step that matters

Cook the chocolate mixture until thick, smooth, and glossy. Chocolate, sugar and water must be cooked to a smooth, well-emulsified mixture; if it is undercooked it stays grainy or runny, and if it is overcooked it can seize or turn stiff. Cooling it to lukewarm before blending also keeps it from melting or deflating the batter.

“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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