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Dessert

Chocolate Mould

A chilled chocolate dessert made with milk, chocolate, gelatin, sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 Mould

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatin in 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk.

  2. Boil the remaining milk with the chocolate until smooth.

Finish and set

  1. Stir in the sugar and soaked gelatin.

  2. Add vanilla extract to taste.

  3. Let the mixture cool slightly, then pour into one large or several small molds.

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

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

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  5. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Chocolate
Provides the rich flavour and fat that give the mousse its body.
Gelatin
Sets the liquid mixture into a light, firm structure as it cools.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that melts the chocolate into a smooth mixture.
Caster sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Dissolving the gelatin. Gelatin only sets properly when it is fully dissolved and evenly distributed. Stir the soaked gelatin in thoroughly while the mixture is still warm, then let it cool only slightly so it can set evenly without lumps.

“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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