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Dessert

Cocoa-nut Pudding

A baked coconut pudding made with sugar, butter, coconut, egg whites, rose water, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Cocoa-nut Pudding

Why it works: Butter and coconut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cocoa-nut Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the coconut

  1. Remove the brown skin from the coconut, wash it in cold water, dry it, and grate it.

Make the mixture

  1. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.

  2. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and dry.

  3. Fold the egg whites into the butter and sugar mixture.

  4. Gently stir in the grated coconut, brandy, and rose water.

Bake

  1. Line your baking plates with pastry.

  2. Pour the mixture into the plates.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until set.

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. Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

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

  2. Rose + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together560 recipes

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

  3. Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 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

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff foam, they lighten the mixture and help it rise and set.
Butter
Beaten with sugar, it adds richness and a tender, fine-textured crumb.
Sugar
Beaten with butter, it sweetens the pudding and helps create a creamy base.
Grated coconut
Adds bulk, moisture and its own distinct flavour and texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Fold the egg whites into the butter and sugar mixture. Folding gently keeps the air whisked into the egg whites. Stirring or deflating them removes that air, so the pudding rises less and sets denser.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, rose, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Currantfits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Coconutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, rose, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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