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Dessert

Chocolate Frosting

A chocolate frosting made with chocolate, sugar, boiling water, vanilla, and optional confectioners' sugar.

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 Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the frosting

  1. Combine chocolate, sugar, and boiling water in a saucepan.

  2. Boil while stirring often until the mixture is smooth, thick, and glossy.

  3. Remove from heat.

  4. Add the beaten white of one egg and vanilla.

Finish and spread

  1. Add more confectioners' sugar if the frosting is too thin.

  2. Spread the frosting on the cake once it has cooled.

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

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

  3. Chocolate + sugartop 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

Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and, as it melts and cools, gives the frosting body and richness.
Sugar
Sweetens the frosting and helps it become smooth and glossy when boiled with the water.
Egg white (in the method)
Adds air and lightness to the frosting when beaten into the warm chocolate mixture.
Confectioners' sugar
Stiffens the frosting when it is too thin, adding body and sweetness.

The step that matters

Boil while stirring often until smooth, thick, and glossy. Boiling the chocolate, sugar, and water together dissolves the sugar and melts the chocolate evenly. Stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the pan, and the mixture must thicken enough to spread once cooled.

“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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