Why it works: Coffee and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,339 recipes. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓
Coffee Mouse
Ingredients
Directions
Combine the coffee and cream, sweetening to taste.
Pack the mixture and let stand for four hours.
If the mixture is not frozen, dissolve one-half package of minute gelatin in coffee and add it. Mix thoroughly and let stand in a cool place until set.
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.
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.
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Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream
- Whipped or chilled, it provides the fat and body that give the mousse its rich, airy texture.
- Coffee
- Supplies the main flavor and liquid that the mousse is built around.
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
The step that matters
Dissolving the gelatine fully in the coffee. Gelatine must be completely dissolved before it is mixed in, or it can form lumps and set unevenly. Mixing thoroughly then letting the mousse stand cool allows the gelatine network to form a uniform set.
“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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