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Dessert

Caramel Filling

A sweet caramel mixture made from brown sugar, molasses, butter, milk, flour, water, chocolate, baking soda, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Caramel Filling

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 ↓

Caramel Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Stir together brown sugar, molasses, and melted butter in a saucepan for 5 minutes.

  2. Add hot milk and the flour mixed with cold water, then mix well.

  3. Heat the mixture and boil for 5 minutes, stirring often.

  4. Add grated vanilla chocolate and boil for 5 more minutes.

  5. Stir in a generous pinch of baking soda.

  6. Remove from heat after 1 minute.

  7. Flavor with vanilla or other essence.

Cool and finish

  1. Let the mixture cool.

  2. Spread between cakes and on top.

  3. Set the caramel in the sun to dry.

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.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and body, and helps the filling set as it cooks down.
Molasses
Adds dark colour, a deep flavour, and extra moisture to the filling.
Flour
Thickens the mixture so it holds its shape when spread.
Vanilla chocolate
Adds richness and flavour to the caramel as it melts into the mixture.
Baking soda
Alters the mixture's acidity, which darkens the colour and softens the texture.

The step that matters

Remove from heat after 1 minute. Sugar mixtures continue to cook off residual heat, so leaving the pan on the burner too long can overcook the caramel, making it darker, bitter, or too stiff to spread. Timing the removal keeps the texture spreadable.

“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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