Skip to main content

Perfect Chocolate Sauce

You can make this chocolate sauce in advance and store in the fridge for up to 4 days, then gently reheat before serving.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Perfect Chocolate Sauce

Serves 4
Prep30 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

269Calories
2 gProtein
20 gFat
18 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Ice Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Orange + vanillatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,371 recipes

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

  3. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Orange + chocolatetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together928 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).

Cream and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,301 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

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chocolate, cream, vanilla):

  1. Coconutfits better
  2. Raspberryfits better
  3. Strawberryfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, cream, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.