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Dessert

Victoria Cold Pudding

A chilled dessert made with sugar, egg yolks, milk, cream, gelatin, and layered with ladyfingers and macaroons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓

Victoria Cold Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Brown 2 tablespoons of sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly.

  2. In a bowl, beat together the yolks of 6 eggs, 1 pint of milk, and a pinch of salt.

  3. Add 5 ounces of sugar to the egg mixture.

  4. Pour the mixture into the browned sugar and heat until it almost boils.

Set the cream

  1. Dissolve 1 ounce of gelatine in ½ cup of water and strain it into 1 pint of cream.

  2. Beat the cream mixture well for 5 minutes and stir it into the cooled egg mixture.

Assemble and layer

  1. Prepare a mold by covering the bottom with a layer of ladyfingers and macaroons.

  2. Pour some of the mixture over the ladyfingers and macaroons.

  3. Repeat layering with ladyfingers, macaroons, and the mixture until all is used.

  4. Work quickly, as the mixture sets rapidly.

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

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

  2. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

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

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

Sugar and milk 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and colour to the mixture.
Gelatine
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when chilled and unmoulded.
Cream
Adds fat and softness, giving the set pudding a light, creamy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard along with the egg yolks.
Ladyfingers (in the method)
Act as the soft sponge layers that absorb the custard and hold the mold together.

The step that matters

Work quickly once the gelatine mixture is combined. Gelatine begins to set as it cools, so the mixture can thicken before it is layered. Working promptly keeps it pourable so the layers bind evenly without lumps or gaps.

“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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