Why it works: Chocolate and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Top Frosting of Chocolate
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.
Gradually add powdered sugar until the mixture is firm.
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.
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chocolate
- Provides the main flavour and, once melted and cooled, the body of the frosting.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the chocolate and thickens it into a firm, spreadable frosting.
The step that matters
Gradually add powdered sugar. Adding sugar in small amounts lets you judge the thickness as you go. Adding it all at once can make the frosting too stiff or grainy to spread smoothly.
“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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