Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 43,450 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Her Majesty's Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Flavour the cream or milk with pounded almonds or lemon/ratafia flavouring.
Simmer gently, then let it cool slightly.
Gradually pour the milk over the beaten eggs, stirring continuously.
Heat the mixture over low heat until it thickens, then remove from heat and sweeten to taste.
Assemble and steam
Pour the mixture into a buttered mould lined with soaked sponge cake.
Cover the mould and steam the pudding for about 45 minutes.
Serve
Let it stand for a couple of minutes before turning it out and decorate with crystallized fruit.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Almond + sherrytop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together517 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Cream + sherrytop 19% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together2,038 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream or milk
- Provides the liquid base and richness that the custard is set from.
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, giving the pudding its body.
- Sponge cake
- Soaks up the custard and holds its shape as the pudding sets.
- Pounded almonds
- Add nutty aroma and flavour to the cream or milk.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard to taste.
The step that matters
Adding the milk to the eggs. Pouring hot milk into the eggs too quickly can scramble them. Adding it gradually while stirring warms the eggs evenly so the custard thickens smoothly.
“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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