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Dessert

Coffee Sponge

A chilled dessert made from coffee, gelatin, sugar, egg whites, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and coffee are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,344 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Coffee Sponge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water.

  2. Add the soaked gelatine to the hot coffee and stir in the sugar.

  3. Strain the mixture into a pan and set it in a larger pan of ice water to cool slightly.

Whip to a sponge

  1. Beat the mixture with a wire whisk until it is quite stiff.

  2. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold them into the coffee mixture.

  3. Continue beating until the mixture holds its shape.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold that has been dipped in cold water.

  2. Chill thoroughly, then remove from the mold and serve with sugar and thin 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. Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Coffee + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,239 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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 firm, sliceable structure as it chills.
Egg whites
Trap air when beaten, giving the dessert a light, sponge-like texture.
Strong coffee
Provides the main liquid and the dominant coffee flavour.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the bitterness of the coffee.

The step that matters

Cool before whipping. The gelatine mixture should be cool and just beginning to thicken before whisking. If it is too warm, the whites will deflate and the foam will not hold; if it has already set, it cannot be whipped smooth and airy.

“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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