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Dessert

Chocolate Custard or Cream

A chocolate custard made by folding beaten eggs with melted chocolate and cream, then cooked gently over simmering water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 Custard or Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Separate the egg whites and yolks.

  2. Beat the yolks and mix in the sugar.

  3. Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the yolk mixture.

Make the custard

  1. Dissolve the chocolate in hot water.

  2. Add the cream to the chocolate mixture and bring to a boil.

  3. Pour the hot mixture over the eggs while stirring constantly.

  4. Transfer the mixture to a pitcher and place it in boiling water.

  5. Stir the custard constantly until it thickens.

Serve

  1. Serve in glasses and chill before eating.

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + chocolatetop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Eggs
Egg yolks thicken the custard when gently heated, and whipped whites add airy lightness.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and, as it melts, contributes richness to the custard.
Cream
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and a softer mouthfeel.
Fine white sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps balance the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Pour the hot mixture over the eggs while stirring constantly. Adding hot liquid to yolks can scramble them. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly so the yolks warm gradually and thicken smoothly instead of curdling.

“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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