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Dessert

Ginger Cream

A chilled dessert made with gelatin, whipped cream, powdered sugar, egg whites, and chopped ginger.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Ginger Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gelatin

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water until soft.

  2. Add the boiling water and stir until dissolved.

  3. Let it stand until cold.

Make the cream

  1. Once it thickens, beat until light.

  2. Whip the egg whites until stiff.

  3. In a bowl set in ice water, add the whipped cream.

  4. Sift in the powdered sugar.

  5. Add the gelatin and mix lightly.

  6. Add the chopped ginger mixed with a little powdered sugar.

Mould and serve

  1. Dip an ice cream brick in cold water.

  2. Drain the ice cream brick.

  3. Fill the ice cream brick with the cream mixture.

  4. Let stand until thickened.

  5. Cut into slices when serving.

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.

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

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

  2. Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Cream + gingertop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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

Gelatine
Sets the liquid cream so it holds its shape when cut.
Whipped cream
Provides fat and volume, giving the dessert a light, rich texture.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiffness, they add airy lightness to the mixture.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the cream and dissolves easily into it.
Ginger
Adds aromatic, spicy flavour to the cream.

The step that matters

Let the gelatin stand until cold, then fold it in while it is only thickened. Gelatin that is still hot can melt the whipped cream and deflate the foam, while gelatin that has set too firmly forms lumps instead of blending evenly. Cooling it until it just thickens lets it distribute smoothly and keeps the cream light.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, 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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