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Dessert

Spanish Cream

A chilled custard dessert made with gelatin, milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Spanish Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Soak the gelatin in 3 cups of cold milk for 30 minutes.

  2. Place the mixture over a double boiler.

  3. Beat the egg yolks until light. Add the sugar and beat again until light.

  4. Stir the yolk and sugar mixture into the boiling milk.

  5. Stir until the mixture thickens.

  6. Remove the mixture from heat. Add the vanilla.

Set and serve

  1. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.

  2. Pour the hot custard over the beaten egg whites. Stir and beat until thoroughly mixed.

  3. Pour the mixture into a mold rinsed with cold water.

  4. Set the mold in a very cold place to harden.

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

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

  2. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  4. Gelatin + vanillatop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together924 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Gelatin
Sets the liquid milk mixture into a firm, sliceable dessert as it cools.
Egg yolks
Thicken the milk mixture into a smooth custard and add richness.
Egg whites
Whipped to a stiff foam, they lighten the custard and give it an airy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps the yolks beat to a light, smooth texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the gelatin sets and the custard thickens.

The step that matters

Stirring the hot custard into the beaten egg whites. The custard should be hot enough to fold in smoothly but the whites must still be stiff. Stir gently and thoroughly so the foam stays airy and the mixture sets evenly without streaks.

“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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