Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scrape the chocolate finely and dissolve it in water.
Make the chocolate cream
In a marble mortar, beat the mixture for half an hour.
Add fine sugar to sweeten and 1½ pints of cream.
Mill the mixture and let the froth rise, then strain it through a sieve.
Serve
Pour the remaining cream into glasses and top with the frothed cream.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chocolate
- Provides the main flavour and, once dissolved, the body of the chocolate cream.
- Cream
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth texture, and the frothed portion forms the topping.
- Fine sugar
- Sweetens the chocolate mixture to taste.
The step that matters
Milling and letting the froth rise. Milling and beating the mixture traps air bubbles that form a froth. Letting it rise before straining separates that light foam, which is later used as the topping.
“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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