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 ↓
Bavarian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard base
Boil the milk with the sugar.
Pour the hot milk over the beaten egg yolks.
Soak the gelatin in the water, then add it to the milk mixture.
Thicken and set
Let it cool until it begins to thicken, then whip until smooth.
Gradually fold in the whipped cream.
Pour into a mold and refrigerate until set.
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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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and add richness and a smooth, set texture.
- Gelatine
- Sets the cream so it holds its shape when unmolded.
- Heavy cream
- Whipped in, it adds lightness and a creamy mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and yolks.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the yolks and gelatine are combined into.
The step that matters
Pour the hot milk over the beaten egg yolks. Adding hot milk gradually, while whisking, warms the yolks gently so they blend in smoothly instead of scrambling into lumps.
“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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