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Dessert

Royal Iced Cabinet Pudding

A chilled custard pudding with candied cherries, green grapes, sponge cake, and vanilla, set with gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Royal Iced Cabinet Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chill a mold with a lid in a pan of ice until very cold.

  2. Soak the gelatin in cold water.

  3. Boil the milk.

  4. Whip the yolks of the eggs until light.

  5. Add the powdered sugar to the whipped yolks.

Make the custard

  1. Strain the soaked gelatin into the boiling milk.

  2. Add the egg mixture, stirring carefully to avoid curdling.

  3. Once the custard is cool, fold in the whipped cream.

  4. Add the vanilla bean to the custard.

Assemble, chill and serve

  1. In the chilled mold, pour a layer of custard.

  2. Cut the sponge cake into slices.

  3. Soak the cake slices in sherry.

  4. Halve or quarter the green grapes, removing the stones.

  5. Layer the soaked cake, custard, and fruits in the mold until filled.

  6. Decorate the outside with additional fruit as desired.

  7. Chill in the refrigerator for at least three hours.

  8. Serve cold on a silver dish, garnished with whipped cream and fruit.

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. Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sherry + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  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

Eggs
Yolks are whipped and cooked gently into the custard, which thickens and sets it.
Gelatin
Sets the custard so it holds its shape when the pudding is unmolded and sliced.
Cream
Folded into the cooled custard to add richness and a light, smooth texture.
Sponge cake
Soaked in sherry, it absorbs liquid and provides the body of the layers.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the yolks and dissolves easily into the custard base.
Sherry or maraschino
Soaks the cake, adding moisture and a distinct flavour to the layers.

The step that matters

Adding the egg mixture to the custard. Egg proteins thicken when heated gently but curdle and turn grainy if the mixture gets too hot or is stirred poorly. Stirring carefully keeps 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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