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Dessert

Princess Dessert

A gelatin dessert made with cream, sugar, ginger, dates, and almonds, served with ladyfingers and macaroons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Princess Dessert

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatine

  1. Soak ¼ box gelatine in ½ cup milk until softened.

  2. Dissolve the softened gelatine over hot water.

  3. Add ½ lb. powdered sugar to the dissolved gelatine.

Make the mixture

  1. Whip 1 pint of cream.

  2. Mix the whipped cream carefully with the dissolved gelatine.

  3. Add 2 tablespoons of chopped preserved ginger and 2 tablespoons of ginger syrup.

  4. Chop 4 dozen dates as finely as possible.

  5. Add the chopped dates to the cream mixture.

  6. When the jelly is about to congeal, add it to the mixture and stir until well combined.

Mold and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold and serve on a low flat dish.

  2. Dust the top with finely chopped almonds and garnish with small flowers or green leaves.

  3. Serve with lady fingers and macaroons.

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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Dates + almondtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together217 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Ginger + almondtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the cream and sugar mixture so it holds its shape when molded.
Cream
Adds richness and a light, airy texture when whipped into the mixture.
Sugar
Sweetens the dessert and balances the ginger.
Dates
Add sweetness, body and a soft, chewy texture.
Preserved ginger
Adds a warm, spicy aroma and flavor.

The step that matters

Add the gelatine when it is just about to congeal. If the gelatine has set too firmly, it forms lumps when stirred into the cream. If it is still fully liquid, the dessert will not hold its shape. Stir gently to keep the cream airy.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, syrup, dates, almond):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Clovefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, syrup, dates, almond. 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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