Skip to main content
Dessert

Cranberry Shape

A dessert made by molding stewed cranberries between buttered bread slices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cranberry Shape

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mold

  1. Butter one slice of bread.

  2. Lay the buttered slice in the bottom of a plain mold or basin.

  3. Cut strips of buttered bread like lady's fingers.

  4. Arrange the strips closely around the sides of the mold.

Fill and set

  1. Boil the cranberries in water until reduced to a pulp.

  2. Mash the stewed cranberries through a colander into the mold until full.

  3. Cover with a slice of buttered bread, butter side down.

  4. Let it cool thoroughly until solid.

Serve

  1. Turn it out.

  2. Serve with a garnish of whipped cream or plain cream.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Bread + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,789 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cranberries
Cook down to a pulp to form the bulk and tart flavour of the mold.
Bread
Lines and covers the mold, giving the shape a firm, sliceable outer structure.
Butter
Coats the bread so it crisps lightly and does not stick to the mold or the fruit.

The step that matters

Let it cool thoroughly until solid. The stewed cranberry pulp sets as it cools and thickens. Turning it out too early can make it collapse or stick, so it needs to cool fully before unmolding.

“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.

You might also like

Bread PuddingBread Pudding153 recipesSoft Ginger BreadSoft Ginger Bread85 recipesOrange Potato BreadOrange Potato Bread80 recipesBrown Bread PuddingBrown Bread Pudding47 recipes