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Dessert

Vanilla Cream

A chilled vanilla custard thickened with gelatin and optionally folded with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Vanilla Cream

Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓

Vanilla Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatine and vanilla

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water for 30 minutes.

  2. Break the vanilla pod into small pieces and soak in boiling milk until flavored.

Make the custard

  1. Add powdered sugar and beaten egg yolks to the milk mixture.

  2. Pour the custard into a jug and place it in a saucepan of water.

  3. Stir the custard until it thickens, but do not let it boil.

  4. Remove from heat, drain, and add the gelatine, stirring until dissolved.

Set and finish

  1. Pour the mixture into an oiled mold and refrigerate until set.

  2. If desired, fold in whipped cream when the custard and gelatine are cool.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 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. Vanilla + creamtop 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).

Vanilla and sugar 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 custard into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they cook gently.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that carries the vanilla flavor and becomes the custard.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the egg yolks and milk.
Vanilla pod
Infuses the hot milk with aroma and flavor.

The step that matters

Stir the custard until it thickens, but do not let it boil. Egg yolks thicken as they heat gently, but if the custard boils they can curdle and turn grainy, so gentle heat and constant stirring are needed.

“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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