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 Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Heat the milk in a saucepan and sweeten it with sugar.
Carefully stir in the egg yolks and chocolate.
Place the mixture in a double boiler and stir continuously until the eggs set, but do not let it boil.
Finish and freeze
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.
Stir in the cream and freeze.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the mixture and set it into a smooth, rich custard as they cook.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the sweetness and chocolate flavour.
- Strong made chocolate
- Gives the cream its chocolate flavour and deep colour.
- Thick cream
- Adds fat and richness, softening the texture of the frozen cream.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the milk and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard in the double boiler. Egg yolks set at gentle heat but curdle and turn grainy if they boil. Stirring constantly over indirect heat keeps the custard smooth and thick.
“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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