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Dessert

Bavarian Cream, with Coffee

A custard dessert made with coffee, milk, egg yolks, sugar, gelatin, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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, with Coffee

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Add the coffee to the boiling milk to make a strong infusion.

  2. Strain the mixture and stir in the beaten egg yolks and sugar.

  3. Heat the custard over low heat until it begins to thicken, then remove from heat.

Set and mold

  1. Dissolve the gelatin in a little cold water and add it to the hot custard.

  2. When the mixture starts to set, stir it well to smooth it out.

  3. Fold in the whipped cream and mold the mixture.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

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

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they set with gentle heat.
Gelatine
Sets the cooled custard so it holds its molded shape.
Heavy cream
Adds lightness and a smooth, airy texture when folded in.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the bitterness of the coffee.
Coffee
Provides the main flavor through a strong infusion in the hot milk.

The step that matters

Heat the custard over low heat until it begins to thicken. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat; if the custard gets too hot, the yolks can scramble and turn grainy. Removing it from the heat as it thickens keeps it smooth.

“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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