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Dessert

Vienna Chocolate

A chilled chocolate dessert made with milk, cream, chocolate, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and stiffened egg whites.

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

Vienna Chocolate

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate

  1. Scald the milk and cream in a saucepan.

  2. Add the grated chocolate, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla; stir until smooth.

  3. Cook for 5 more minutes, stirring constantly.

Finish and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites with 1 tablespoon of sugar until very stiff.

  2. Add a spoonful of beaten egg whites to each cup when serving the chocolate.

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

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

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

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

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

Milk
Forms the liquid base of the chocolate drink.
Cream
Adds richness and a smoother, fuller mouthfeel.
Grated chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavour.
Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid as it cooks, giving the chocolate body.
Egg whites
Whipped to a stiff foam that tops each cup with a light, airy texture.

The step that matters

Cook for 5 more minutes, stirring constantly. Cornstarch thickens only when heated enough, and constant stirring prevents scorching and lumps at the bottom of the pan. Stopping early leaves the chocolate thin and grainy-tasting.

“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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