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Dessert

Chocolate Cream Filling

A chocolate cream filling made by boiling sugar and cream, adding cream of tartar, vanilla, and plain chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 Cream Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Boil sugar and cream together until it forms a soft ball in water, without stirring.

  2. Just before removing from heat, add a pinch of cream of tartar.

  3. Let the mixture stand until nearly cool.

  4. Add vanilla and beat until smooth.

Finish the cake

  1. Spread the cream filling on the cake.

  2. Melt plain chocolate.

  3. Spread the melted chocolate on top after the cream filling has hardened.

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

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

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

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

  4. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

  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

Sugar
Dissolves into the cream and cooks to a syrup that sets the filling's texture and sweetness.
Cream
Provides fat and moisture, giving the filling its smooth, rich body.
Cream of tartar
Its mild acidity helps keep the cooked sugar smooth by discouraging crystals from forming.
Vanilla extract
Adds aroma and flavour to the filling.
Plain chocolate
Melted and spread on top, it adds chocolate flavour and forms a firm coating.

The step that matters

Boil to a soft ball without stirring. Stirring can knock sugar crystals loose into the syrup, which then spread and make the filling grainy. Cooking to the soft-ball stage gives the right firmness as it cools.

“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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