Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
Boil together the boiling water, powdered sugar, and chocolate.
Stir constantly until well combined.
Frost
Frost the top of the eclairs with the icing.
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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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and body, helping the icing set thick and glossy as it cools.
- Chocolate
- Provides the main flavor and firms up as the icing cools.
The step that matters
Stir constantly until well combined. Chocolate can scorch or turn grainy if it overheats, and constant stirring spreads the heat evenly while the sugar and chocolate dissolve into a smooth icing.
“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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