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Dessert

Baked Cocoanut Custard

A baked custard of grated coconut, sugar, milk, beaten egg whites and nutmeg, baked in cups and grated with sugar when cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 16 ingredients
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Baked Cocoanut Custard

Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Baked Cocoanut Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard base

  1. Grate as much coconut as will weigh a pound.

  2. Mix half a pound of powdered white sugar with the milk of the coconut, or with a pint of cream.

  3. Add two tablespoonfuls of rose-water.

  4. Stir in gradually a pint of rich milk.

  5. Beat the whites of eight eggs to a stiff froth.

  6. Stir the froth into the milk and sugar a little at a time, alternately with the grated coconut.

  7. Add a teaspoonful of powdered nutmeg and cinnamon.

Bake and serve

  1. Put the mixture into cups.

  2. Bake them twenty minutes in a moderate oven, set in a pan half filled with boiling water.

  3. When cold, grate loaf sugar over them.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

382Calories
15 gProtein
20 gFat
30 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
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 F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Whipped whites form a light foam that sets the custard as it bakes.
Coconut (in the method)
Adds moisture, body and its own characteristic flavour and texture to the custard.
White sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps it brown lightly on the surface.
Rich milk
Provides liquid and fat that give the custard a smooth, tender set.

The step that matters

Stir the froth in gradually. Folding the whipped whites in a little at a time keeps the air bubbles intact, so the custard bakes light instead of collapsing and becoming dense.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rose, wine, vanilla, sugar, cream, milk, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Peppermintfits less well
  4. Clovefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against rose, wine, vanilla, sugar, cream, milk, 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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