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 the gelatine
Soak the gelatine in cold water until soft.
Add hot coffee and sugar to the softened gelatine.
Strain the mixture through cheesecloth.
Make the cream
Place the mixture in a bowl of ice water and stir frequently until it becomes syrupy.
Fold in the whipped cream.
Pour the mixture into a mold rinsed in cold water.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + coffeetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 soft, sliceable structure as it cools.
- Whipped cream
- Adds fat and air, giving the set cream a light, smooth texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness of the coffee.
- Strong coffee
- Provides the main flavour of the dessert.
The step that matters
Chilling until syrupy. Gelatine sets as it cools, so the mixture must thicken to a syrup before folding in the cream. If it sets fully in the ice water, it will be lumpy and will not blend with the whipped 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.
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