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Dessert

Chocolate Bavarian Cream

A chilled chocolate custard made with gelatin, milk, cream, eggs, and chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 Bavarian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the custard base

  1. Soak the gelatine in ½ cup of cold milk for 1 hour.

  2. Heat the remaining milk in a double boiler.

  3. Beat the egg yolks. Add the sugar and salt to the egg yolks.

  4. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture.

  5. Return the mixture to the double boiler. Cook until thick like cream.

  6. Melt the chocolate. Stir the melted chocolate into the mixture.

  7. Strain the mixture.

Chill and set

  1. Set the mixture in a pan of ice. Stir occasionally.

  2. When it begins to thicken, fold in the whipped cream.

  3. Pour into a mold.

  4. Refrigerate until very cold, about 3 hours.

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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 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. 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they cook and add richness to the cream.
Gelatine
Sets the cream so it holds its shape when chilled.
Cream
Adds fat and lightness, giving a smooth, airy texture when folded in.
Baker's chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and deepens the color of the custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Cook the custard until thick like cream. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but overheating can curdle them. Cook gently in the double boiler and stop once the custard coats a spoon, so it stays smooth.

“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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