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Dessert

Swiss Cream

A custard made from cream, milk, cornflour, vanilla, and sugar, served over macaroons and ratafias.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Swiss Cream

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 ↓

Swiss Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cream

  1. In a saucepan, combine the cream and milk over medium heat.

  2. Add the piece of vanilla and sugar to taste.

  3. Smooth the cornflour with a tablespoon of cold milk.

  4. When the cream mixture is nearly boiling, stir in the cornflour mixture.

  5. Continue stirring until thickened, then let it simmer for 2 more minutes.

  6. Remove the vanilla piece.

Assemble and serve

  1. Arrange the macaroons and ratafias on a shallow glass dish.

  2. Let the cream cool slightly, then pour it over the biscuits and serve cold.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Cream
Provides richness and fat, giving the set custard a smooth, silky body.
Milk
Adds moisture and body to the cream mixture, diluting its richness slightly.
Cornflour
Thickens the hot cream as its starch swells, setting it into a smooth custard.
Macaroons
Soak up the cream and add a chewy, almond-flavoured base to the dish.
Ratafias
Soften as they absorb the cream, adding a crisp-then-soft texture and almond flavour.

The step that matters

Stir the cornflour in while the cream is nearly boiling, then keep stirring until thickened. Cornflour starch only thickens fully when heated, and it can clump if added to liquid that is too cold or left unstirred. Constant stirring spreads the starch evenly so the cream sets smooth rather than lumpy.

“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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