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Dessert

Chocolate Caramel

A chocolate caramel made by boiling chocolate, sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla until thick, then cooled and cut into squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chocolate Caramel

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. In a large pot, combine the chocolate, milk, and sugar.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then add the butter.

  3. Boil for 20 minutes, or until it forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water.

Finish and cut

  1. Stir in the vanilla, then pour the mixture onto a dish.

  2. Once cool, cut into squares.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  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

Light brown sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks down, the caramel flavor and chewy body.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and mouthfeel in the finished candy.
Cream or sweet milk
Supplies liquid that dissolves the sugar and gives the candy a creamy, softer set.
Baker's chocolate
Contributes chocolate flavor and deep color, and adds fat that helps it set smooth.

The step that matters

Boil to soft ball stage. Sugar syrup sets according to its final temperature and water content. Boiling too briefly leaves the candy soft and sticky, while boiling too long makes it hard and grainy. Testing for a soft ball in cold water helps you judge when it is done.

“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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