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Dessert

Saxon Pudding

A layered pudding of sponge cake, macaroon, ratafias, almonds, and a custard mixture, baked and served cold with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Saxon Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch, peel, shred, and bake the almonds until nicely browned.

  2. Butter a plain charlotte mold and decorate the bottom with halves of cherries and strips of angelica.

  3. Sprinkle the sides thickly with the prepared almonds.

Assemble and steam

  1. Fill the mold with alternate layers of sponge cake, macaroon, and ratafias.

  2. Beat the eggs well, then add the milk, cream, sherry, and vanilla.

  3. Pour this mixture into the mold, cover with buttered paper, and let it stand for 1 hour.

  4. Steam for 1.5 to 1.75 hours.

Serve

  1. Serve with fruit syrup or a suitable sauce, and enjoy cold 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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Almond + angelicatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Angelica + vanillatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together170 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Sherry + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard and bind the layers together as it steams.
Sponge cakes
Form the soft body of the pudding and soak up the custard.
Macaroons
Add chewy texture and almond flavor that holds up to the custard.
Milk and cream
Provide the liquid and richness that give the custard its smooth texture.
Almonds
Add toasted flavor and crunch to the mold's sides.

The step that matters

Steam for 1.5 to 1.75 hours. Gentle steaming lets the egg custard set evenly through the layers. Too much heat makes it curdle or turn rubbery, while too little leaves the center liquid.

Swap the angelica

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, cream, sherry, almond, vanilla):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Angelicathe original
  4. Peppermintfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, cream, sherry, almond, vanilla. 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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