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Dessert

Cocoanut Cream

A chilled coconut custard made with grated coconut, egg whites, milk, gelatin, sugar, and cream, flavored with vanilla or lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Cocoanut Cream

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cocoanut Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Grate the fresh coconut and mix it with ⅓ cup sugar.

  2. Melt ¾ ounce of gelatin in ½ cup of water over low heat.

Make the custard

  1. Whip the egg whites until stiff.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the egg whites with ½ pint of milk and stir over low heat until the custard thickens.

  3. Sweeten the custard with 6 tablespoons of sugar.

  4. Stir in the melted gelatin and ½ pint of grated coconut.

  5. Whip ½ pint of cream until solid and carefully fold it into the custard.

  6. Once the mixture is cold but not set, flavor with vanilla or lemon extract.

Set and chill

  1. Mould the mixture and place it in the refrigerator to chill.

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.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Gelatine
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when moulded and chilled.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiffness, they add lightness and airy structure to the mixture.
Milk
Forms the custard base that is thickened gently over low heat.
Cream
Whipped and folded in, adding richness and a soft, creamy texture.
Grated cocoanut
Adds coconut flavor and body to the set dessert.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped cream after cooling. If the custard is still warm or the gelatin has begun to set, the cream can deflate or the mixture can become lumpy. Cooling it until just cold but not set keeps the airy texture intact and lets the gelatin set evenly when chilled.

“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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