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Dessert

Chocolate Caramel Frosting

A frosting made from brown sugar, chocolate, butter, sweet milk, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 Caramel Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the frosting

  1. In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, grated chocolate, butter, and sweet milk.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool.

Finish

  1. Once cool, spread the frosting on your cake or dessert.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, 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

Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and caramel flavor as it cooks down into the frosting.
Chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and helps thicken the frosting as it melts.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and glossy finish.
Sweet milk
Supplies liquid that dissolves the sugar and cooks into a spreadable consistency.

The step that matters

Cook until the mixture thickens. Stirring constantly over medium heat keeps the sugar and milk from scorching on the bottom of the pan. The frosting sets firm only as it cools, so it should be thick but still pourable at the end of cooking.

“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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