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Marshmallow Pudding

A gelatin-based dessert with marshmallows and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Marshmallow Pudding

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 ↓

Marshmallow Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water.

  2. Add lemon rind, lemon juice, sugar, and boiling water to the gelatine mixture.

  3. Let the mixture stand until it begins to set.

Assemble and serve

  1. Layer the jelly and marshmallows in a dish until all are used.

  2. Allow to stand and harden.

  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.

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

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

  2. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + creamtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,640 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly that holds the layers together.
Marshmallows
Soften slightly in the warm jelly and add sweetness and a soft, chewy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the jelly and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the jelly.
Whipped cream
Adds richness and a light, creamy contrast to the firm jelly.

The step that matters

Let the mixture stand until it begins to set. Gelatine must be partly set before layering; if it is still liquid, the marshmallows sink and the layers blend. If it sets too far, the layers will not join well.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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