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Dessert

Chocolate Caramels

A sweet confection made from chocolate, butter, cream, sugar, molasses, vanilla, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

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

Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the chocolate into pieces.

  2. Mix all ingredients together in a pot.

Cook

  1. Boil rapidly for about 30 minutes.

  2. Add baking soda mixed with cream of tartar.

  3. When boiling is complete, pour into buttered tins.

Finish

  1. Once partly cool, turn out and cut into squares.

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. 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. Cream + sugartop 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

Chocolate
Adds deep flavour and colour and helps give the caramel its rich body.
Butter
Adds fat for a soft, smooth texture and a rich, buttery flavour.
Cream
Adds moisture and fat, giving a softer, creamier set.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, browns and firms the mixture as water evaporates.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deeper, slightly bitter sweetness.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity of the mixture to lighten the texture and promote browning.

The step that matters

Boil rapidly for about 30 minutes. As water evaporates, the sugar concentrates and the mixture reaches the firm, chewy set a caramel needs. Boiling too briefly leaves it soft and sticky, while overcooking makes it hard or scorched. Adding the baking soda at the right point helps the mixture foam and lighten.

“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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