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Dessert

Raspberry Tarts and Cream

A tart with a puff pastry shell filled with mashed raspberries and cream, topped with a rose‑flavored meringue.

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

Raspberry Tarts and Cream

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Make a puff pastry and line the tart pans.

  3. Bake the lined tart pans until golden.

Make the filling and meringue

  1. Mash the raspberries and mix with the sugar and cream.

  2. Fill the baked tart shells with the mixture.

  3. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  4. Gradually add ½ cup sugar and 1 teaspoon rose extract to the egg whites.

  5. Spread the meringue on top of the filled tarts.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake the tarts for 1 minute, being careful not to brown too much.

  2. Serve with whipped cream or a sauce of your choice.

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

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

  3. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,584 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Egg + rosetop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,840 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Egg and cream 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

Raspberries
Provide the main fruit flavor, acidity and moisture for the filling.
White sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps balance the tartness of the raspberries.
Egg whites
Whip into a foam that forms the meringue topping and sets when heated.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, soft texture to the filling.
Puff pastry
Forms the crisp, flaky shell that holds the filling.

The step that matters

Baking the meringue topping. Meringue sugar and egg white proteins brown and dry out quickly in heat. Baking only briefly sets the topping while keeping it light and prevents scorching or a rubbery texture.

“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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