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Dessert

Chocolate Cream

A chocolate custard made with chocolate, milk, heavy cream, sugar, egg yolks, and egg white, set in a bain‑marie.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Chocolate Cream

Why it works: Cream and sugar 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

Make the custard base

  1. Combine the scraped chocolate and milk in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until dissolved.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool.

  4. Stir in the heavy cream and sugar to taste.

  5. Beat the egg yolks and the egg white together.

  6. Add the beaten eggs to the chocolate mixture.

  7. Strain the mixture.

Set and chill

  1. Pour it into small china cream pots or cups.

  2. Place the cups in a shallow dish or pan filled with hot water until the mixture sets.

  3. Once set, transfer to a cool place until ready to serve.

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

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

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and, as it cools, helps the mixture firm up.
Egg yolks
Thicken the cream as they cook and help it set into a smooth, rich texture.
Heavy cream
Adds fat for a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
Milk
Dissolves the chocolate and thins the mixture into a pourable base.

The step that matters

Placing the cups in hot water until the mixture sets. Gentle, indirect heat lets the egg proteins thicken the custard slowly and evenly. Overheating can curdle the eggs and leave a grainy texture instead of a smooth set.

“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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