Skip to main content
Dessert

Apple Float

A gelatin-based apple dessert with custard and whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Apple Float

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the apples

  1. Place the apples in a pot and cover with water.

  2. Stew until tender.

  3. Remove the apples.

  4. Add the sugar to the same water and bring to a boil.

  5. Return the apples to the pot.

  6. Stew until clear and fully cooked.

  7. Take the apples out.

Make the syrup and set

  1. Slice the lemon into the syrup.

  2. Add the dissolved gelatin and mix well.

  3. Bring to a boil.

  4. Pour the syrup over the apples.

  5. Let it congeal.

  6. Serve cold with cream.

Make the custard and finish

  1. Make a soft custard by whisking together egg yolks, powdered sugar, and milk.

  2. Spread the custard over the apples.

  3. Whip the egg whites with lemon flavor and place them on top.

  4. Color the custard in the oven.

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

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

  2. Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Apples
Hold their shape and become tender and clear when stewed, forming the base of the dessert.
Sugar
Sweetens the poaching water and syrup, and helps the syrup taste rich.
Lemon
Adds acidity and fresh aroma that balance the sweetness of the syrup.
Gelatine
Sets the cooled syrup so it congeals around the apples.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and colour.
Egg whites
Whipped into a light, airy topping that adds volume.

The step that matters

Coloring the custard in the oven. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but too much heat makes the custard curdle, turn grainy, or weep liquid. Watch it closely and remove it once it just browns on top.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, cream, egg, milk):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raspberryfits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, cream, egg, milk. 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.

You might also like

Apple PuddingApple Pudding256 recipesLemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesLemon SherbetLemon Sherbet103 recipes