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
Prepare
Beat the egg yolks until very light.
Make the chocolate cream
In a saucepan, combine the cream or milk and grated chocolate. Heat until the chocolate dissolves.
Add the sugar and stir until well mixed.
Place the saucepan in a pot of boiling water and stir until the mixture thickens, but do not let it boil.
Remove from heat and pour into cups to cool.
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + chocolatetop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 cream as they set gently with heat, giving it a rich, smooth body.
- Cream or whole milk
- Provides the liquid base and richness that carries the chocolate and sets into a creamy texture.
- Sweet chocolate
- Supplies the chocolate flavor and, once melted, helps give the custard its color and body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.
The step that matters
Thickening over boiling water. Egg yolks set into a smooth custard at moderate heat. If the mixture boils, the yolks can scramble and turn grainy, so stir gently and keep it below a boil until it thickens.
“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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