Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the chocolate base
Beat the egg yolk.
Mix in the powdered sugar.
Melt the chocolate over hot water.
Add the melted chocolate to the egg yolk mixture.
Finish the sauce
Beat the egg white until stiff.
Fold the stiff egg white into the mixture along with the whipped cream.
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + chocolatetop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg
- Yolk thickens the sauce and emboldens its body, while the whipped white lightens its texture.
- Whipped cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the sauce a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and dissolves easily into the egg yolk mixture.
- Chocolate
- Provides the main flavor and, once melted, gives the sauce its rich body.
The step that matters
Folding the stiff egg white. Folding gently keeps the whipped egg white's air intact, so the sauce stays light. Stirring or overmixing deflates the foam and makes the sauce heavy.
“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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