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 ↓
Velvet Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gelatine
Soak the gelatine in a mixture of sherry wine and cold water for 40 minutes.
Place the bowl in hot water until the gelatine dissolves.
Make the cream
Add the sugar and set aside until it begins to thicken.
Beat in the cold cream until stiff enough to drop from a spoon.
Set and serve
Pour into a mold or dish and chill on ice until ready to serve.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sherry + creamtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,038 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Wine + creamtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,887 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Sherry + sugartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,141 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Wine + sugartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 cream as it cools.
- Cold cream
- Adds fat for richness and a light, creamy body when beaten.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dish and helps balance the sherry.
- Sherry wine
- Adds aroma and a mild wine flavour to the cream.
The step that matters
Dissolve the gelatine fully before adding the cream. Undissolved gelatine leaves specks and weakens the set. If the mixture thickens too far before the cream goes in, it will not blend smoothly and may turn lumpy, so the cream should be beaten in while the mixture is still thickening.
“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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