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Dessert

Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate pudding made with chocolate, cake crumbs, flour, butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla, steamed or baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 Pudding

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.

Make the chocolate base

  1. Break the chocolate into small pieces and combine it with the milk in a saucepan.

  2. Simmer until dissolved, then cool.

  3. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook briefly without browning.

  4. Add the milk mixture and stir until boiling.

  5. Add the cake crumbs and cook gently until thickened.

  6. Let the mixture cool slightly.

  7. Beat in the egg yolks and add the vanilla essence.

Fold and cook

  1. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Gently fold the egg whites into the mixture.

  3. Pour the mixture into a well-greased mold.

  4. Cover with greased paper.

  5. Steam for about 1.5 hours or bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C).

Serve

  1. Serve with custard, chocolate, or vanilla sauce.

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. 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Eggs
Egg whites whipped to stiff peaks lighten the pudding, while yolks add richness and help it set.
Flour
Cooked with melted butter and then the milk, it thickens the mixture into a structured base.
Butter
Melted with the flour to form a roux, adding richness and smooth texture.
Chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavour and, melted into the milk, colours the pudding.
Cake crumbs
Absorb liquid as they cook, adding body and a softer, tender crumb.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites whipped to stiff peaks trap air that gives the pudding its lift. Stirring them in roughly or overmixing deflates the foam, leaving a dense, heavy result.

“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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