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Baked Chocolate Custard

A baked custard made with milk, chocolate, cinnamon, sugar, egg whites, and cornstarch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,655 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Baked Chocolate Custard

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard base

  1. Combine cinnamon and milk in a double boiler.

  2. Cook for 10 minutes.

  3. Melt chocolate with sugar and a little boiling water over high heat until smooth.

  4. Stir the melted chocolate into the hot milk.

  5. Remove from heat and let cool.

Bake and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites and 2 tablespoons of sugar together.

  2. Add to the cooled milk mixture and strain.

  3. Pour the mixture into cups.

  4. Place the cups in a deep pan filled with tepid water.

  5. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until the center is brown.

  6. Serve cold with whipped cream.

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. Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Cinnamon + chocolatetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,808 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Egg whites
Whipped with sugar, they add airy structure and help the custard set during baking.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture so the custard holds its shape when cooled.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavor and richness, and its cocoa solids add body to the custard.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the eggs and starch set into a creamy custard.

The step that matters

Place the cups in a tepid water bath. A gentle water bath keeps the custard's temperature even and moderate, so the eggs set smoothly rather than curdling or cooking unevenly at the edges.

“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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