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
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the custard base
Grate the chocolate into the cream and scald both together, stirring constantly until it boils.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Beat the yolks of the eggs with half of the sugar, then add to the cooled cream and mix well.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until stiff, then spread over the cream mixture.
Brown in the oven at 350°F (175°C) and serve cold.
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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Cream + chocolatetop 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).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Chocolate + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the cream and whites form a stiff meringue that browns on top.
- Cream
- Provides the rich, fatty body of the dessert.
- Chocolate
- Adds flavour and colour to the cream base.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and stabilises the whipped egg whites.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until stiff. Whites must be beaten to firm peaks with sugar so they hold their shape and brown evenly; under-beaten whites will weep or sink into the cream.
“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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