Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Coffee Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard base
In a saucepan, combine the sugar, ground coffee, and half of the cream over low heat. Stir until the mixture comes to a boil.
Add the egg yolks
In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks with the remaining cream. Combine the two mixtures and bring to a boil again.
Strain and freeze
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve. Allow to cool, then freeze.
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.
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Cream + coffeetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
-
Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Cream
- Provides fat and richness, giving the frozen ice cream a smooth, creamy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Their proteins thicken the custard and help emulsify it, giving body and a silky texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream soft rather than rock hard.
- Ground coffee
- Supplies the main coffee flavor as it steeps into the hot cream mixture.
The step that matters
Bringing the egg yolk mixture back to a boil. Egg yolks thicken the custard as they heat, but if they get too hot they can scramble and turn grainy. Straining afterward catches any small lumps, but keeping the heat controlled protects the smooth 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.
More coffee ice cream recipes
You might also like
Coffee Custard27 recipes
Coffee Cake21 recipes
Coffee Bavarian Cream14 recipes
Coffee Pudding10 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.