Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 coffee cream
Soak the gelatin in cold water until soft.
Add the hot coffee and sugar to the softened gelatin.
When the gelatin is dissolved, strain the mixture.
Add the cream and mix well.
Pour into a glass dish.
Serve
If using whipped cream, it can be made like Charlotte Russe.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + coffeetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid coffee mixture into a firm, sliceable cream when chilled.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, soft texture that balances the bitter coffee.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the coffee and softens its bitterness.
- Hot coffee
- Provides the main coffee flavour and liquid for the set cream.
The step that matters
Dissolving the gelatine fully before adding the cream. Gelatine only sets when it is completely dissolved and evenly distributed. Any undissolved grains or lumps will leave weak spots in the set cream, so the mixture should be strained and stirred well before the cream is added.
“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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