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Dessert

Sweet Chocolate Paste

A sweet chocolate paste made by boiling sugar, water, and tartar, then adding chocolate paste, butter, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Sweet Chocolate Paste

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 230°F (110°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the syrup

  1. Combine 5 lbs sugar, 3 pints water, and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar in a clean pan.

  2. Boil until the mixture reaches the thread stage (230°F / 110°C).

Finish and set

  1. Add 1 lb malted chocolate paste and ½ lb butter, stirring continuously.

  2. Continue stirring until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in 2 tablespoons vanilla extract until stiff.

  4. Pour the mixture onto greased tins and let it cool.

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. 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 syrup base that sets firm as the mixture cools and thickens.
Cream of tartar
Acidity helps stop the sugar from crystallising, keeping the paste smooth.
Malted chocolate paste
Supplies the chocolate flavour and body of the paste.
Butter
Adds fat for a softer texture and richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stirring while the sugar cooks to soft ball stage. Sugar syrup can crystallise or scorch if stirred unevenly at high temperatures. Stirring steadily keeps the sugar dissolved and heat even, so the paste sets smooth rather than grainy.

“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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