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Dessert

Orange Bavarian Cream

A chilled gelatin-based dessert made with orange juice, egg yolks, sugar, heavy cream, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and cream match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Orange Bavarian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water for 2 hours.

  2. Scald the milk.

  3. Beat the egg yolks.

  4. Add the sugar.

Make the custard

  1. Pour the scalded milk over the yolks while stirring continuously.

  2. Return to the heat.

  3. Cook until thick, stirring well.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Add the gelatin.

  6. Stir until dissolved.

  7. Strain.

Cool, fold and set

  1. Cool in a pan of ice.

  2. Once cool, add the orange juice.

  3. Stir occasionally.

  4. Whip the cream until stiff.

  5. When the mixture begins to thicken, fold in the whipped cream.

  6. Pour into a mold that has been wet with cold water.

  7. Set aside 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. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  4. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
Thicken the custard base and add richness as they cook.
Gelatin
Sets the cream so it holds its shape when unmoulded.
Heavy cream
Whipped, it adds an airy, light texture and richness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the tart orange flavour.
Orange juice
Gives the dessert its main flavour and a bright acidity.

The step that matters

Fold in the whipped cream at the right thickness. Fold the whipped cream in only once the mixture begins to thicken. If it is still too warm, the cream deflates and the mixture stays runny. If it has set too far, the cream will not blend smoothly and lumps will form.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (gelatin, sugar, egg, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, sugar, egg, cream. 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.

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