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Dessert

Smith College Fudge

A chocolate fudge made with butter, sugars, molasses, cream, chocolate, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Smith College Fudge

Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Smith College Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix the white sugar, brown sugar, molasses, and cream.

  3. Add the sugar mixture to the melted butter.

  4. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  5. Boil for 24 minutes, stirring rapidly.

  6. Add the scraped chocolate.

  7. Boil for an additional 5 minutes, stirring rapidly at first and then more slowly.

  8. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

  9. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens.

  10. Pour into a buttered pan and set in a cool place.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

White sugar
Dissolves into the syrup to provide sweetness and the base structure of the fudge.
Brown sugar
Adds moisture and a deeper, caramel-like flavour, and helps keep the fudge soft.
Chocolate
Supplies the chocolate flavour and fat that give the fudge its body.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, making the fudge creamier and smoother.

The step that matters

Boiling for 24 minutes, then 5 more minutes with the chocolate. Sugar concentration and temperature control how the fudge sets. Boiling too short leaves it soft and runny, while boiling too long makes it hard and grainy. Stirring keeps the sugar crystals small for a smooth texture.

“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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