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Chocolate Cream

Chocolate cream made by dissolving chocolate in boiling water and sugar, thickened with cornstarch and milk, then mixed with egg, butter, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Chocolate Cream

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 ↓

Chocolate Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate base

  1. Combine boiling water, sugar, and grated chocolate in a pot. Cook until dissolved.

Thicken and finish

  1. Mix cornstarch with a little cold milk until smooth.

  2. Add the cornstarch mixture, egg, and butter to the chocolate mixture. Stir well.

  3. Cool the mixture.

  4. Flavor with vanilla.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Cornstarch
Thickens the mixture as it heats, giving the cream its body.
Egg
Adds richness and helps set the cream as it cooks and cools.
Grated chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavor and body of the cream.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture and mouthfeel.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and helps dissolve the chocolate into a smooth base.

The step that matters

Mixing cornstarch into the chocolate. Cornstarch must be fully smooth in cold milk before it goes in, or it will clump. Starch thickens only when heated, so the mixture should be stirred well as it sets.

“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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