Skip to main content
Dessert

Icing for Chocolate Cake

A chocolate cake icing made by boiling sugar, mixing with egg whites, and adding melted chocolate, sugar, milk, egg yolk, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Icing for Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup and meringue

  1. Boil the sugar and water until it ropes.

  2. Pour the syrup gradually over the beaten egg whites and beat until stiff.

Make the chocolate base

  1. Melt the chocolate, then add 1 cup of sugar and ¼ cup of milk.

  2. Stir and cook until a little forms a soft ball in cold water.

Finish the frosting

  1. Beat the egg white until dry, then add the yolk and beat thoroughly.

  2. Add the syrup to the egg mixture in a fine stream while beating constantly.

  3. Stir in 1 teaspoon of 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. 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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

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

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

Egg whites
Whipped to foam, they give the frosting its light, airy structure.
Granulated sugar
Dissolved into syrup, it sweetens the frosting and helps it set glossy.
Chocolate
Melted into the base, it supplies the chocolate flavour and richness.
Egg yolk
Adds richness and fat, giving the frosting a smoother, creamier body.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the chocolate base.

The step that matters

Add the syrup in a fine stream while beating. Hot syrup poured slowly while beating cooks the egg proteins gently and blends evenly. Pouring it in quickly can cause lumps or scramble the eggs, and the frosting may not become smooth and stable.

“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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipes