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Dessert

Chocolate Pies

A chocolate filling spread on a plain cake base, topped with powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cake

  1. Bake the plain cake in shallow dishes until thick enough to split.

  2. Once cooled, split the cake in half.

Make the filling

  1. Mix the chocolate and sugar together for the filling.

  2. Slowly add the boiling milk and then the egg yolks, stirring continuously.

  3. Simmer the mixture for 10 minutes, ensuring it does not burn.

  4. Add vanilla flavor and let the filling cool completely before using.

Assemble

  1. Spread the filling on one half of the cake, place the top piece on, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

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

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

  4. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

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

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

Plain cake
Forms the sponge base that holds the filling in layers.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and richness of the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it set smooth as it cooks.
Egg yolks
Thicken the filling as they cook and add richness.
Boiling milk
Melts the chocolate and loosens the filling into a smooth mixture.

The step that matters

Simmering the filling. Egg yolks thicken only when heated gently; if the mixture gets too hot or boils hard, the yolks can scramble and the chocolate filling can catch and burn. Keep the heat low and stir steadily.

“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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