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Dessert

Chocolate Cream

A chocolate custard made with gelatin, cream, egg yolks, caster sugar, and chocolate, folded with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Chocolate Cream

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dissolve the gelatin in the cream.

  2. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.

  3. Mix in the caster sugar and grated chocolate.

Make the custard

  1. Combine the egg mixture with the dissolved gelatin and cream in a pan.

  2. Place the pan in another pan of boiling water.

  3. Stir until thickened.

Finish and set

  1. Whip the remaining cream until stiff.

  2. Fold the whipped cream into the custard through a fine sieve.

  3. Stir occasionally until cold.

  4. Pour the mixture into a china mold.

  5. Wait until firm.

  6. Turn out the chocolate 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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Chocolate + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,448 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they gently set with heat, giving body and richness.
Gelatine
Sets the chilled cream and chocolate mixture so it holds its shape when turned out.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, and whipped portion lightens the final texture.
Grated chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavour and rich body.
Castor sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Stir until thickened over boiling water. Egg yolk proteins set gently at moderate heat. If the custard gets too hot or is not stirred steadily, the yolks can scramble and become 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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