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
Make the cream
Scrape the chocolate into the cream and add the sugar.
Boil the mixture and mill it until smooth.
Remove from heat and let it cool.
Finish and serve
Whisk in the egg whites until frothy.
Scoop the froth onto sieves and serve in glasses, allowing it to rise above the cream.
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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Sugar + eggtop 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
- Thick cream
- Provides richness and body, forming the base that the chocolate and froth sit on.
- Chocolate
- Gives the flavour and colour of the cream and thickens it as it cools.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.
- Egg whites
- Whisked to a foam, they create the light froth that rises above the cream.
The step that matters
Whisking the egg whites until frothy. Egg whites foam best when fully cooled and free of fat or yolk. Under-whisked whites stay runny and won't hold a froth, while over-whisked whites turn dry and collapse.
“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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