Skip to main content
Dessert

Ice Pudding

A chilled custard-based dessert with fruits, macaroons, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Ice Pudding

Why it works: Vanilla and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Ice Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard

  1. Prepare the custard and let it cool.

  2. Sweeten the custard and add vanilla or sherry flavoring.

Prepare the fruit

  1. Soak the chopped fruits in curacao overnight.

Freeze and serve

  1. Whip the cream lightly and mix it with the cold custard.

  2. Half freeze the mixture slowly in a freezer.

  3. Fold in the crushed macaroons and soaked fruits.

  4. Let it freeze for a while longer until firm.

  5. Shape 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.

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.

  1. Vanilla + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Vanilla + plumtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together171 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Plum + almondtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together211 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

Eggs
Help the custard set and give the pudding a rich, smooth body.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, and whipped air keeps the frozen texture light.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and adds creaminess.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and softens the frozen texture so it is less icy.
Macaroons
Add crunch and almond flavor that contrast with the smooth frozen custard.

The step that matters

Half freeze the mixture slowly in a freezer. Freezing slowly while stirring or folding helps form small ice crystals, keeping the texture smooth rather than coarse and icy. Folding in the fruit and macaroons only after this partial freeze keeps them evenly distributed.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, sugar, vanilla, cream, plum, almond):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Peppermintfits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, sugar, vanilla, cream, plum, almond. 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.

More ice pudding recipes

Prince Albert 4Strawberry 3 See all 44 →

You might also like

Ginger CookiesGinger Cookies213 recipesPineapple SherbetPineapple Sherbet116 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesGinger CakeGinger Cake93 recipes