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Dessert

Chocolate Bavarian Cream

A chilled chocolate custard made with milk, cream, eggs, gelatin, and chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 Bavarian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Boil the vanilla bean and sugar in the milk until well flavored.

  2. Remove from heat and add the soaked gelatine.

  3. When slightly cooled, stir in the grated chocolate dissolved in a little water.

  4. Add the beaten eggs and stir until smooth as it cools and thickens.

Finish and set

  1. Gently fold in the whipped cream until well mixed.

  2. Pour into molds and chill on ice or 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.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Vanilla + sugartop 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. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Eggs
Thicken the custard as they cook gently and add richness to the set cream.
Cox's gelatine
Sets the cream into a firm, sliceable form as it chills.
Rich cream
Adds fat and a light, airy texture when whipped and folded in.
Baker's chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and deep color of the dessert.
Rich milk
Forms the liquid base that carries the vanilla and sugar and sets with the gelatine.

The step that matters

Add the beaten eggs and stir until smooth as it cools and thickens. Eggs thicken when heated gently but can scramble if the mixture is too hot. Stirring keeps the custard smooth and even.

“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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