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Uncooked Spiced Chocolate Cream

A no-bake dessert of spiced chocolate cream formed into small balls and rolled in chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Uncooked Spiced Chocolate Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Beat the egg white and add ½ cup of water in a bowl.

  2. Gradually mix in confectioner's sugar until stiff.

  3. Fold in grated chocolate and ground spices.

Shape and coat

  1. Form mixture into small balls with buttered or wet hands.

  2. Roll balls in chocolate.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg white
Whipped into a foam that gives the mixture body and helps bind it together.
Confectioner's sugar
Sweetens the mixture and stiffens it into a paste that holds its shape.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and body to the mixture.
Ground spices
Add warm aroma and flavor to the mixture.

The step that matters

Gradually mix in confectioner's sugar until stiff. Adding sugar slowly lets it dissolve into the beaten egg white without collapsing the foam. Stopping at a stiff texture gives a paste that holds its shape when formed into balls.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, chocolate, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg):

  1. Clovethe original
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Gingerfits less well
  4. Cuminfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, chocolate, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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