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Dessert

Maple Bavarian Cream

A chilled dessert made with maple syrup, egg yolks, gelatin, cream, and walnuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Walnut and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,035 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Maple Bavarian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Boil the maple syrup.

  2. Gradually pour the hot maple syrup over the beaten egg yolks.

  3. Beat the mixture.

  4. Cook the mixture over hot water until thick.

  5. Add the gelatin dissolved in hot water.

  6. Stir in the walnut meats.

Chill and set

  1. Place the mixture on ice until it begins to harden.

  2. Fold in the whipped cream.

  3. Let it harden.

  4. Serve ice 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.

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. Walnut + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,035 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Maple syrup + walnuttop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together309 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Maple syrup + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together607 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Cream + walnuttop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  5. Egg + meattop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they cook and add richness to the cream.
Gelatine
Sets the cream so it holds its shape when chilled.
Cream
Adds lightness and a smooth, airy texture when folded in.
Maple syrup
Provides the sweetness and maple flavour of the dish.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture over hot water until thick. Egg yolks thicken as they heat but can scramble if overheated, leaving lumps. Gentle heat over hot water, not direct flame, keeps the custard smooth before the gelatine is added.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (maple syrup, egg, cream, meat):

  1. Pecansfits better
  2. Walnutthe original
  3. Nutsfits about as well
  4. Almondfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against maple syrup, egg, cream, meat. 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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