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Dessert

Caramel Candy

A sweet candy made by boiling brown sugar, chocolate, cream, and butter until thick, then cooling and cutting into squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Caramel Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a large pot, combine brown sugar, Baker's chocolate, cream, and butter.

  2. Boil the mixture for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the hot mixture into a greased pan.

  2. Allow to cool, then cut into squares.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  3. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Brown sugar
Provides most of the sweetness and, as it cooks, the caramel flavour and firm body.
Baker's chocolate
Adds deep chocolate flavour and cocoa fat that helps the candy set smooth and rich.
Cream
Adds milk fat and moisture, giving a softer, creamier texture than sugar alone.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the candy richer and gives a smoother, less grainy bite.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Milk fats and sugar can scorch on the hot bottom of the pot, giving a burnt taste. Regular stirring spreads the heat evenly and keeps the sugar from crystallising, so the candy sets smooth.

“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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