Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Vanilla, Coffee, Maple
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
Put one cupful of sugar and three quarters of a cupful of cream into a saucepan.
Stir constantly over a hot fire until it reaches the hard-ball stage.
Remove from the fire, add a teaspoonful of vanilla.
Pour and set
Turn the mixture onto an oiled slab between iron bars, or into greased tins, as directed for chocolate caramels.
Flavour variations
For coffee caramels, use a half cupful of cream and a quarter cupful of strong coffee.
For maple caramels, use a cupful of maple syrup in place of sugar, and omit the vanilla.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Maple Syrup | 1 tbsp (20ml) | 52 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp extract (4ml) | 12 |
| Coffee | 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.
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vanilla + coffeetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,391 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Vanilla + maple syruptop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together752 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Sugar and vanilla 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
- Sugar
- Forms the caramel's sweet body and, when cooked, its colour and flavour.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the caramel a soft, rich texture.
- Maple syrup
- Replaces sugar in the maple version, adding sweetness and its own distinct flavour.
The step that matters
Cooking to the hard-ball stage. Stirring constantly over heat keeps the sugar from scorching or crystallising unevenly. Stopping at the hard-ball stage sets the texture: too little cooking gives soft, sticky caramels, and too much makes them hard and brittle.
“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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