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Dessert

Cream of Coffee Bavariose

A chilled coffee custard dessert made with milk, eggs, gelatin, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Cream of Coffee Bavariose

Ingredients

Directions

Make the coffee custard

  1. In a double boiler, heat the milk.

  2. Tie the freshly ground coffee in a piece of cheesecloth and drop it into the milk.

  3. Cover and let it stand over a simmering burner until the milk is scalded and infused with coffee flavor.

  4. Remove the coffee, then beat the eggs and sugar together and stir into the milk until it thickens like custard.

  5. Soak the gelatine in cold water, then add it to the mixture and set over hot water until dissolved.

Set and serve

  1. Remove from heat and place in cold water; when it begins to thicken, add the vanilla and fold in the whipped cream.

  2. Pour into cold molds and set in pans of ice water until firm.

  3. Serve with whipped cream.

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

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

  3. Coffee + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,391 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  5. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

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

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

Eggs
Thicken the milk into a custard as they cook gently with the sugar.
Gelatine
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when unmolded.
Cream
Folded in whipped to add lightness and richness to the set dessert.
Milk
Forms the base that carries the coffee flavor and sets with the eggs.
Coffee
Provides the main flavor, infused into the warm milk.

The step that matters

Thickening the egg custard over heat. Eggs thicken as their proteins set, but if the mixture gets too hot it can curdle or turn grainy. Keeping it gentle over hot water, as the double boiler allows, keeps it smooth before the gelatine is added.

“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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