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. Creme, Au Chocolat.
Ingredients
Directions
Make the chocolate cream
Boil the cream in a saucepan.
Add the sugar and reduce the mixture to two-thirds.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water.
Mix the melted chocolate with the cream.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.
Serve
Serve slightly chilled.
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.
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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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Chocolate + creamtop 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).
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 cools, helps the cream set thick.
- Cream
- Supplies fat and moisture, giving the dessert its rich, smooth body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.
The step that matters
Reduce the cream and sugar to two-thirds. Simmering evaporates water and concentrates the cream, so it sets with a richer texture. Reducing too little leaves the dessert thin and loose, while reducing too far can make it heavy and overly thick.
“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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