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Dessert

Chocolate Cream Renversee

A French chocolate custard dessert set in a caramelized mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Chocolate Cream Renversee

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the custard base

  1. Heat the milk in a double boiler.

  2. Shave the chocolate and combine it with 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of boiling water in a small pan. Stir over medium heat until smooth and glossy, then mix into the hot milk and remove from heat to cool.

Make the caramel

  1. In a Charlotte mold, add 3 tablespoons of sugar and place it on the stove. When the sugar melts and begins to smoke, swirl the mold to coat it with caramel, then set aside.

Bake and serve

  1. Beat together the remaining sugar, eggs, and salt.

  2. Add the cooled milk and chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and strain into the Charlotte mold.

  3. Place the mold in a deep pan with enough tepid water to reach nearly the top of the mold.

  4. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until firm in the center, about 40 to 45 minutes.

  5. Test for doneness by running a knife through the center; it should be firm and smooth.

  6. Once icy-cold, invert onto a flat dish and serve with whipped cream flavored with sugar and 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. 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. 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).

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

Eggs
Coagulate on baking to set the custard into a firm, sliceable body.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and creamy texture of the custard.
Chocolate
Gives the custard its flavor and color.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and melts to form the caramel coating the mold.

The step that matters

Baking in a water bath. Egg custard turns grainy or curdles if heated too fast or too hot. Surrounding the mold with tepid water moderates the heat so the custard sets gently and smoothly.

“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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