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Dessert

Chocolate Cream

A rich chocolate custard made with cream, milk, gelatin, and chocolate, folded into whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Chocolate Cream

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Warm the milk with sugar and chocolate until dissolved.

  2. Pour the mixture onto the egg yolks and return to the pan, stirring until thick.

  3. Add the gelatine soaked in a little milk and stir until dissolved.

  4. Strain the mixture and stir frequently until cool.

Assemble and set

  1. Flavour the cream with vanilla and beat until stiff.

  2. Fold in the chocolate custard until it begins to set.

  3. Turn the mixture into a wet mould.

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.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Cream + sugartop 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).

Vanilla and sugar 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, adding richness.
Gelatine
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when turned out of the mould.
Cream
Whipped to stiffness, it gives the dessert a light, airy texture.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and colour of the dessert.

The step that matters

Fold in the chocolate custard until it begins to set. If the custard is too warm, it melts the whipped cream and the mixture deflates; if it is too set, it won't blend evenly. Folding at the point of partial setting keeps the airy texture while the gelatine holds the shape.

“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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Balls 47Cake 29Filling 21Pie 16Drops 12Candy 8 See all 133 →

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