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Dessert

Velvet Cream

A gelatin-based dessert made with milk, cream, wine, lemon, sugar, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Velvet Cream

Why it works: Coffee and tea work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 259 recipes. Both carry 2-methyl-3-(methyldithio)furan, which smells thiamin, meat. The science ↓

Velvet Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the wine jelly

  1. Add one coffee-cupful of wine, one half a box of gelatine, the juice and grated peel of one lemon, one and one half pints of milk, and one coffee-cupful of sugar.

  2. Dissolve the gelatine in the wine over the fire.

  3. Grate in the peel and add the juice of the lemon.

  4. After it has dissolved, add the sugar.

  5. Let it simmer.

  6. Strain.

  7. Add the milk and stir till cold.

  8. Put into a mould.

  9. Set in a cool place to congeal.

Make the cream layer

  1. Pour one pint of cold water over one box of Cox's gelatine and let it stand one hour.

  2. Add one and one half pints of boiling water and two tea-cupfuls of sugar.

  3. When nearly cold, flavor with vanilla.

  4. Churn up one half gallon of rich cream and beat the froth into the jelly when almost cold.

  5. Take the whites of six eggs, five table-spoonfuls of acid jelly, and three table-spoonfuls of sugar.

  6. Beat together until light.

  7. Have a bowl three fourths full of well frothed cream, flavored with wine and sweetened to taste.

  8. Place lightly on top of the first preparation.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

339Calories
15 gProtein
19 gFat
29 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo. 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. See the original page.

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. Coffee + teatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methyl-3-(methyldithio)furan (thiamin, meat).

  2. Lemon + teatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together610 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

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

  5. Milk + teatop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together738 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly structure.
Eggs
Whites beaten to a foam add lightness and airy texture to the mixture.
Rich cream
Adds fat and richness, and its whipped froth gives a light, creamy texture.
Milk
Adds moisture and mild creaminess to the jelly.
Sugar
Sweetens the dish and balances the acidity of the lemon and acid jelly.

The step that matters

Beating the froth into the jelly when almost cold. If the jelly is still warm, the cream and egg foam will deflate and melt; if it has set too firmly, the froth will not blend evenly. Timing near-cold keeps the air in the mixture.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Peachfits better
  3. Strawberryfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

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