Skip to main content
Dessert

Millionaire's Fudge

A rich chocolate fudge with pecans and marshmallows.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla 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 ↓

Millionaire's Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut marshmallows into quarters.

  2. Spread the quarters over a large buttered pan.

  3. Sprinkle chopped nuts over the marshmallows.

Make the fudge

  1. In a saucepan, boil the sugar, chocolate, and cream.

  2. Add the butter and vanilla.

  3. Stir until thick but not too long.

  4. Pour the mixture over the marshmallows while it's still hot to melt them.

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  3. Pecans + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,691 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

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

  5. Chocolate + pecanstop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, 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

Powdered sugar
Provides sweetness and bulk for the fudge base.
Chocolate
Adds richness and flavour to the fudge.
Marshmallows
Melt into the hot mixture to add softness and chew.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, giving the fudge a smooth, creamy texture.
Pecans
Add crunch and a toasty, nutty flavour.

The step that matters

Stir until thick but not too long. Sugar syrup that is cooked too far or stirred too long can turn grainy or hard as it cools. Stopping at the thickened stage keeps the fudge smooth and soft.

Swap the pecans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, chocolate, cream, butter, vanilla):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, chocolate, cream, butter, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipes