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Dessert

Chocolate Iclng

A chocolate icing made with chocolate, white sugar, sweet cream, butter, and sprinkled with granulated sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Chocolate Iclng

Ingredients

Directions

Make the icing

  1. Combine chocolate, white sugar, sweet cream, and butter in a saucepan.

  2. Simmer over low heat for a few moments until smooth.

Ice and finish

  1. Immediately apply the icing to the cake.

  2. Sprinkle granulated sugar over the top while the icing is still hot.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chocolate
Provides the body and flavor, and firms up as the icing cools.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, glossy texture and a softer bite.
Sweet cream
Adds moisture and helps the chocolate melt into a smooth, spreadable icing.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the icing its body.

The step that matters

Apply the icing while it is still warm. Chocolate icings made with cream and butter set as they cool, becoming thick and hard to spread. Applying it immediately lets it coat the cake evenly before it firms up.

“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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