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Dessert

Eggless Chocolate Pie

A sweet, egg‑free pie with a chocolate filling and a flour‑based covering.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

Eggless Chocolate Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, mix sugar, flour, chocolate or cocoa, and salt.

  2. Add the milk and pour the mixture into a double boiler.

  3. Cook until thick, stirring constantly.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

Assemble and bake

  1. Prepare a baked pie shell by rubbing 1 teaspoon of flour in the bottom.

  2. Pour the cooked chocolate mixture into the shell.

  3. For the covering, mix flour, sweet milk, sugar, melted butter, and baking powder.

  4. Spread the covering over the top of the pie.

  5. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 15 minutes, or until the covering is set and lightly browned.

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. Milk + buttertop 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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps give the covering a light browned finish.
Flour
Thickens the chocolate filling as it cooks, giving it body.
Chocolate or cocoa
Provides the chocolate flavour and dark colour of the filling.
Sweet milk
Forms the liquid base that cooks with the flour into a thick custard.
Baking powder
Lifts the covering so it rises and sets lighter in the oven.

The step that matters

Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Flour thickens only when heated with liquid and stirred, and it can scorch or form lumps on the bottom of the pan if left unattended. Stirring keeps the starch dispersed and the custard smooth.

“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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