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Dessert

Chocolate Creams

Chocolate Creams are spoonfuls of boiled sugar and cream, flavored with vanilla, coated in melted chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and chocolate 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 Creams

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fondant

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar and cream, mix well, and bring to a boil.

  2. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and stir briskly until stiff.

  3. Add vanilla extract to the mixture.

Shape and coat

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a buttered plate.

  2. Melt chocolate in a bowl set over boiling water.

  3. Using a fork, roll each drop in the melted chocolate and place back on the plate to harden.

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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 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. 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

Sugar
Forms the bulk of the creams and provides sweetness; it crystallises as the mixture cools and stiffens.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, making the mixture softer and smoother in texture.
Chocolate
Forms a firm outer coating that sets around the soft centre as it cools.

The step that matters

Stir briskly until stiff. Stirring after boiling controls sugar crystallisation. Stirring while the mixture cools makes fine crystals and a creamy, firm texture rather than a grainy one.

“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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