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Dessert

Frozen Cabinet-pudding

A frozen pudding made with gelatin, custard, fruit, and sponge cake layers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Frozen Cabinet-pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dissolve gelatin in hot water and keep warm.

  2. In a saucepan, combine egg yolks, sugar, cream, and flavoring.

  3. Cut citron into leaf shapes and prepare cherries and other fruits.

Build the mould

  1. Grease a 3‑pint tin mould and arrange fruit on the bottom and sides.

  2. Line the mould with sponge cake, fitting it against the fruit.

  3. Fill the mould with alternating layers of cake and fruit, leaving space at the top.

  4. Cover the top with a slice of cake.

Make the custard and freeze

  1. Heat the custard mixture, stirring until it thickens, then stir in the gelatin.

  2. Strain the custard into the mould over the fruit and cake.

  3. Once cooled slightly, place the top slice of cake and cover the mould tightly.

  4. Pack the mould for freezing and freeze for 4 hours.

  5. Turn out the pudding before serving.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Pineapple + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,134 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they heat and add richness to the frozen pudding.
Gelatine
Sets the custard so the frozen pudding holds its shape when turned out.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the custard.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and keeps the frozen custard softer and less icy.

The step that matters

Thickening the custard before adding the gelatin. Egg yolks curdle if the custard gets too hot, so heat gently and stir until it thickens. Stir the gelatin in while the custard is still warm so it blends evenly and sets firm once frozen.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, cream, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, cream, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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