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Dessert

Chocolate Cream

A gelatin-based chocolate custard made with milk, chocolate, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Chocolate Cream

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 Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water for 1 hour.

  2. Boil the milk in a saucepan.

  3. Scrape the chocolate and mix it with the sugar.

  4. Moisten the chocolate mixture with the boiling milk.

Make the custard

  1. Stir in the soaked gelatin and the beaten egg yolks.

  2. Stir briskly for 3 minutes, then remove from heat.

  3. Strain the mixture and add the vanilla.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into molds and let cool.

  2. Serve with sugar and 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

Gelatin
Sets the custard into a firm, sliceable body as it cools.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth texture when heated.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the chocolate flavour.
French chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and some richness to the custard.
White sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Stir briskly for 3 minutes, then remove from heat. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but if they overheat they can curdle and turn grainy. Steady stirring spreads the heat evenly, and removing the pan at the right moment keeps the custard 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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