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Dessert

Chocolate Cream

A chilled gelatin dessert made with chocolate, milk, sugar, eggs, cream, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Chocolate Cream

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 Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Combine milk, sugar, chocolate, and gelatin in a saucepan.

  2. Heat over medium until dissolved, whisking continuously.

  3. Beat egg yolks in a bowl.

  4. Add the yolks to the boiling milk mixture.

  5. Cook for 1 minute.

  6. Strain the mixture into a freezer set in ice water.

  7. Rinse the saucepan with a cup of cream.

  8. Add the cream to the mixture.

Chill and mould

  1. Flavor with vanilla.

  2. Beat as it cools.

  3. Fold in the whipped egg whites.

  4. Pour into oiled molds.

Serve

  1. Serve by spoonfuls from the freezer with whipped cream as a sauce.

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.

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.

  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. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

Gelatin
Sets the mixture into a soft, sliceable body as it chills.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard base and add richness to the dessert.
Egg whites
Whipped and folded in to lighten the texture and add airiness.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavor and dark color of the dessert.
Cream
Adds fat for a smoother, richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Cook the yolks gently into the milk mixture. Egg yolks thicken and can scramble if overheated; adding them to boiling milk without care risks curdling, so the mixture should be cooked briefly and stirred steadily.

“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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