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 ↓
Whipped Creams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Take a pound of fruit such as cherries, currants, raspberries, strawberries, mulberries, etc.
Crush the fruit and mix it with a pint of water; squeeze through a cloth, add a little sugar, and pass through a jelly bag. Keep the mixture cool until use, then pass it through the bag again.
If using as a syrup to drink, add water to taste and enough sugar to make it palatable. If using for ice, add more sugar, put the mixture into an ice‑pail with saltpetre, stir until fully iced, then serve.
Make the cream base
Take a pint of cream (thick it must be), half a pint of milk, the yolk of an egg beaten, and three quarters of a pound of sugar; let it boil on the fire five or six times, then take it off.
Add some vanilla, orange‑flower, bergamot, lemon, or citron essence, whichever you prefer, and put it into an ice‑pail.
Freeze and serve
Mould the mixture into a pan with ice at the bottom and a good handful of salt and saltpetre; fill the pan to the top with the mixture, salt, and saltpetre.
When the mixture is iced and ready, turn it out and serve immediately.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Fruit | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Adds richness and fat, giving the frozen mixture a smooth, creamy body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and lowers its freezing point, keeping it softer when iced.
- Fruit
- Supplies the main flavour and colour of the mixture.
- Egg yolk (in the method)
- Acts as an emulsifier, helping the cream and milk blend smoothly.
The step that matters
Freezing with salt and saltpetre. Salt lowers the temperature of the ice below freezing, so the mixture chills enough to freeze. The ice must be packed with enough salt, or the mixture will stay liquid and not 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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