Skip to main content
Dessert

Russian Cream

A chilled dessert made with gelatin, milk, sugar, heavy cream, egg whites, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Russian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water until dissolved.

  2. Add milk and sugar to the gelatine and heat to boiling, stirring constantly.

  3. Set aside to cool.

Whip and fold

  1. Whip the cream until light and fluffy.

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  3. Once the gelatine mixture is nearly congealed, fold in the whipped cream and beaten egg whites.

  4. Flavor with vanilla and pour into a glass dish.

  5. Refrigerate until set.

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. 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 liquid mixture into a soft, sliceable structure as it cools.
Heavy cream
Adds richness and a light, airy texture when whipped and folded in.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the mixture and add a delicate airy structure.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard base and balances the gelatine.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that is heated with the gelatine and sugar.

The step that matters

Fold in the whipped cream and egg whites while the gelatine is nearly congealed. If the gelatine has set too firmly, it cannot blend evenly and leaves lumps; if it is still too warm and liquid, the whipped cream and egg whites will deflate and the dessert will not hold its airy texture.

“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

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipes