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Dessert

Coffee Cream

A chilled dessert made with milk, coffee, eggs, sugar, gelatin, and whipped cream.

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

Coffee Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Scald the milk and add a pinch of baking soda.

  2. Stir in the hot coffee and pour over the beaten egg yolks and sugar.

  3. Return to the heat and stir until it begins to thicken.

  4. Add the soaked gelatine and remove from heat, stirring until dissolved.

Finish and set

  1. Once completely cool, gradually fold in the whipped cream.

  2. Pour into a wet mold and 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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

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

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

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 set with gentle heat, giving it a rich body.
Gelatine
Sets the cooled cream so it holds its shape when unmolded.
Sweet cream
Whipped and folded in at the end to add lightness and a soft, airy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the bitterness of the coffee.
Rich milk
Forms the creamy base of the custard, adding moisture and richness.

The step that matters

Return to the heat and stir until it begins to thicken. Egg yolks thicken from gentle heat, but if they get too hot they can scramble and curdle. Stir constantly and stop as soon as the custard coats a spoon.

“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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