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 ↓
Cafe Parfait
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the mixture
In a bowl, combine the cream, eggs, sugar, and Mocha Essence, then mix well until smooth.
Freeze and serve
Freeze the mixture until it is quite soft, about 1-2 hours.
Serve in glasses topped with whipped cream and maraschino cherries.
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.
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Cream
- Provides fat and body, giving a rich, smooth texture that stays creamy when frozen.
- Eggs
- Add richness and help emulsify the mixture so it freezes smooth rather than grainy.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, so the parfait stays soft rather than hard.
- Mocha essence
- Supplies the main coffee and chocolate flavour throughout the frozen mixture.
The step that matters
Freezing until quite soft. Sugar and fat keep this mixture from freezing solid, so it stays scoopable at the right time. Freezing too long turns it hard and icy, while stopping too early leaves it runny.
“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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