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 ↓
Coffee Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the gelatine in a dish with ½ cup of cold water for 2 hours.
Boil the milk in a saucepan.
Make the cream
Once hot, add the coffee and sugar, and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the soaked gelatine and cream.
Strain the mixture into a rinsed mold.
Set the mold on ice to chill.
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.
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
-
Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
-
Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable cream as it cools.
- Milk
- Provides the creamy base and body of the dessert.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smoother, softer mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the coffee flavour and balances its bitterness.
- Very strong coffee
- Supplies the main flavour of the dessert.
The step that matters
Soaking the gelatine. Gelatine must hydrate fully in cold water before it is added to hot liquid; otherwise it clumps and sets unevenly, leaving a grainy or lumpy cream.
“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.
More coffee cream recipes
You might also like
Coffee Ice Cream91 recipes
Coffee Custard27 recipes
Coffee Cake21 recipes
Coffee Bavarian Cream14 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.