Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Chocolate Fudge
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the fudge
In a saucepan, combine sugar, cream, butter, and chocolate.
Boil slowly for 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and add flavoring to taste.
Stir until thick, then pour into a buttered dish.
Cool and cut
Allow to cool and cut into squares.
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.
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + chocolatetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,543 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and forms the crystalline body of the fudge as it cooks.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and fat for a smooth, creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat that enriches the flavour and softens the texture.
- Chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and fat that help the fudge set firm when cooled.
The step that matters
Stirring until thick. As the mixture cooks, water evaporates and the sugar concentration rises. Pouring too early leaves the fudge soft and runny, while overcooking makes it hard or grainy.
“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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