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Dessert

Chocolate Frosting

A chocolate frosting made with melted chocolate, scalded cream, egg yolk, butter, confectioner's sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water.

  2. Scald the cream and pour it over the melted chocolate.

  3. Add the beaten yolk of the egg and butter, then beat the mixture.

  4. Sift in enough confectioner's sugar to achieve the desired consistency.

  5. Fold in the well-beaten egg white and add 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.

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and, once melted into the cream, the body of the frosting.
Egg
The yolk enriches and thickens the frosting, while the folded-in white adds lightness.
Confectioner's sugar
Sweetens the frosting and stiffens it to the desired consistency.
Scalded cream
Melts the chocolate smoothly and adds moisture and richness.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, glossy texture and richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Fold in the well-beaten egg white. Folding keeps the whipped egg white's air intact, so the frosting stays light. Stirring it in vigorously would deflate the foam and make the frosting denser.

“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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