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Dessert

Spanish Cream

A custard dessert made with cream, corn starch, milk, sherry, macaroons, and candied cherries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Spanish Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cream

  1. In a double boiler, combine cream, corn starch, and milk.

  2. Sweeten to taste and flavor with sherry.

  3. Cook until thick, stirring occasionally.

Assemble and serve

  1. Line the bottom of a pudding dish with macaroons dipped in sherry.

  2. Sprinkle halved candied cherries over the macaroons.

  3. Once the cream is cold, pour it over the macaroons and cherries.

  4. Serve very cold.

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. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  2. Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  3. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Cream + sherrytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Corn + sherrytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together145 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cream
Forms the rich body of the dessert once thickened and chilled.
Corn starch
Thickens the cream into a smooth, sliceable custard as it cooks.
Macaroons
Soak up sherry and add a soft, chewy layer beneath the cream.
Candied cherries
Add sweetness and a chewy fruit contrast to the layers.

The step that matters

Cook until thick, stirring occasionally. Cornstarch thickens only when heated to a boil and stays thin if undercooked, while constant stirring prevents scorching and lumps. Cook gently over the double boiler so the starch swells evenly and the custard sets smooth before it cools.

“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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