Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Whipped Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cream
Chill the cream in ice for several hours before use.
Sweeten the cream to taste and add rum.
Set the bowl in a pan of cracked ice.
Whip
Beat the cream with a Dover egg-beater, transferring froth to a second bowl as it forms.
For a stiffer whip, strain the froth through a sieve and return the unbeaten cream to the bowl to beat again.
If the cream is not thick, dissolve ½ ounce of gelatine in a little cold milk for 1 hour, then heat in boiling water until dissolved.
Once cooled but not set, whip the gelatine into the prepared cream.
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.
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Rum + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together967 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
-
Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,908 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Heavy cream
- Whips into a foam because its fat globules trap air when beaten cold.
- Gelatine
- Sets the whipped cream so it holds its shape when the cream is not thick enough.
The step that matters
Whipping the gelatine into the cream. Gelatine must be cooled but not set before it is whipped in; if it is too warm it thins the cream, and if it has already set it forms lumps instead of blending evenly.
“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.
More whipped cream recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.