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Dessert

Bitter Sweet Cream

A candy made from sugar, water, acetic acid, glycerine, gelatin, egg whites, and flavoring.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Bitter Sweet Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a large pot, combine sugar and water, then add acetic acid.

  2. Cook the mixture until it reaches 242°F (117°C).

Make the cream

  1. Remove from heat and stir in glycerine and dissolved gelatin.

  2. Pour the mixture onto a damp slab and let it cool.

  3. Once cool, fold in the beaten egg whites and your chosen flavoring.

  4. Let the mixture set for one hour.

Shape and coat

  1. Roll out the set mixture and dip it in a bitter sweet coating.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Gelatin + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Forms the bulk of the mixture and provides sweetness and structure as it cooks and sets.
Acetic acid
Adds sharpness and, with the cooked sugar, helps stop it crystallising into grainy sugar.
Glycerine
Keeps the set mixture soft and moist, so it stays tender rather than brittle.
Gelatin
Sets the mixture into a firm, elastic body as it cools.
Egg whites
Beaten into the mixture to add air, giving a lighter, foamy texture.

The step that matters

Cooking the syrup to 242°F (117°C). Sugar syrup must reach the right temperature to set firm when cooled. Too little cooking leaves it soft and sticky; too much makes it hard and brittle. Hitting the target controls the final texture.

“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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