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Dessert

Chocolate Cream Renversee

A custard dessert of milk, eggs, sugar, chocolate, and a burnt sugar glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate Cream Renversee

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the custard base

  1. Heat the milk in a double boiler.

  2. Shave the chocolate.

  3. Combine the shaved chocolate in a small pan with ⅓ cup sugar and 3 tablespoons boiling water.

  4. Stir the mixture over medium heat until smooth and glossy.

  5. Stir the chocolate mixture into the hot milk and remove from heat to cool.

Make the caramel and custard

  1. Place 3 tablespoons sugar in a charlotte mold and heat on the stove until melted and smoking.

  2. Swirl the mold to coat it with burnt sugar.

  3. In a bowl, beat together the remaining sugar, eggs, and salt.

  4. Add the cooled milk and chocolate mixture and strain into the charlotte mold.

  5. Place the mold in a deep pan filled with tepid water, nearly to the top of the mold.

Bake, unmold and serve

  1. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until firm in the center, about 40-45 minutes.

  2. Test for doneness by running a knife through the center; it should be firm and smooth.

  3. Once icy-cold, turn the dessert onto a flat dish.

  4. Serve with whipped cream flavored with sugar and vanilla.

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. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Eggs
Set the custard into a firm, sliceable structure as they cook.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it a creamy, tender texture.
Sugar
Melts to form the burnt-sugar caramel and sweetens the custard.
Chocolate
Gives the custard its chocolate flavor and deep color.

The step that matters

Test for doneness by running a knife through the center. Eggs keep setting as the custard cools, so overbaking makes it rubbery and grainy, while underbaking leaves it runny and unable to hold its shape when turned out.

“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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