Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Chocolate-Apple Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Peel, core, and quarter the apples.
Place them in a saucepan with a small amount of water to prevent sticking.
Sweeten the apples to taste and dust with powdered cinnamon.
Cook gently until reduced to a pulp.
Make the custard
In another saucepan, combine the chocolate, caster sugar, and milk.
Heat until boiling.
Beat the egg yolks and egg whites together.
Gradually pour the eggs into the chocolate mixture, stirring quickly.
Bake and serve
Spread the apple pulp in a deep dish.
Pour the chocolate mixture over it.
Place the dish in a pan of boiling water.
Cook until the custard is firm.
Once cooked, sift caster sugar over the custard.
Brown it under a broiler before serving.
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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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
-
Cinnamon + chocolatetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,808 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Cooking apples
- Break down into a pulp that forms the soft base layer under the custard.
- French chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and richness of the custard layer.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it a creamy, tender texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken and set the custard, adding richness and smoothness.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and help the custard set, lightening its texture.
- Caster sugar
- Sweetens the custard and adds a crisp sugar finish on top.
The step that matters
Gradually pour the eggs into the chocolate mixture, stirring quickly.. Adding hot liquid to eggs slowly while stirring tempers them, so the eggs do not scramble and the custard sets smooth.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, chocolate, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, chocolate, milk, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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