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Dessert

Chocolate Cream

A gelatin-based chocolate custard made with milk, chocolate, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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

Prepare the base

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water for 1 hour.

  2. Boil the milk in a saucepan.

  3. Melt the chocolate and mix it with the sugar.

  4. Moisten the chocolate mixture with the boiling milk.

Make the pudding

  1. Stir in the soaked gelatine and the egg yolks.

  2. Stir briskly for 3 minutes, then strain the mixture.

  3. Add the vanilla and strain again.

  4. Pour into molds and let cool.

Serve

  1. Serve with sugar and cream.

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

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

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

Gelatine
Sets the liquid mixture so the pudding holds its shape when cooled.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth texture.
Chocolate
Gives the pudding its main flavour and adds richness.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and creamy moisture of the pudding.
Sugar
Sweetens the chocolate and balances its bitterness.

The step that matters

Keep the egg yolks from scrambling. Egg yolks thicken a custard when gently heated but turn grainy if the mixture gets too hot or they are stirred in too quickly. Stirring briskly and straining afterward helps keep the pudding smooth.

“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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