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
Prepare the coffee mixture
Soak the gelatine in the boiling coffee and add the sugar.
Once dissolved, set aside to cool.
Make the cream
Whip the cream until thick.
Strain the coffee through a linen strainer and pour it into the whipped cream, then beat thoroughly.
Mould and set
Wet the moulds in cold water and pour in the cream.
Set in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours.
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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Cream + sugartop 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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Coffee + sugartop 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 cream so it holds its shape when turned out of the mould.
- Cream
- Whipped to trap air, giving the dessert a light, airy texture.
- Strong coffee
- Provides the coffee flavour of the dessert.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dessert and balances the bitterness of the coffee.
The step that matters
Cool the dissolved gelatine coffee before folding it into the cream. Hot liquid melts the whipped cream and deflates the air that gives it lightness. Cooling the gelatine mixture first keeps the cream thick and lets the gelatine set evenly rather than in streaks or patches.
“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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