Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the grated chocolate and boiling water together until smooth.
Add the icing sugar and mix until well combined.
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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Sugar + chocolatetop 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
- Icing sugar
- Sweetens the icing and thickens it into a spreadable body as it mixes with the chocolate.
- Grated chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and, once melted, the colour and body of the icing.
The step that matters
Mixing the chocolate and boiling water until smooth. Hot water melts the grated chocolate so it blends evenly. If the chocolate is not fully melted and smooth before the icing sugar goes in, the icing can turn out lumpy and uneven.
“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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