Skip to main content
Dessert

Marshmallow Fudge

A sweet fudge made with sugar, marshmallows, milk, butter, vanilla, and chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Marshmallow Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fudge base

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, chocolate, and milk. Boil for ten minutes or until slightly thickened.

  2. Remove from heat and add half of the marshmallows, stirring constantly.

Finish and set

  1. Once melted, add the remaining marshmallows, butter, and vanilla, continuing to beat the mixture.

  2. Pour the fudge into a buttered pan, spreading it to about 1 inch thick.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  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
Provides sweetness and, as it dissolves and cooks, helps build the fudge's firm body.
Marshmallows
Add sweetness and a soft, smooth, creamy texture when melted into the hot mixture.
Milk
Adds moisture and dairy richness, dissolving the sugar and softening the chocolate into the base.
Chocolate
Supplies cocoa flavour and fat, giving the fudge its characteristic colour and richness.

The step that matters

Stirring while adding the marshmallows. Marshmallows are melted into hot mixture, and constant stirring keeps them from scorching on the pan bottom and helps them blend into a smooth, even fudge.

“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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipes