Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Cabinet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mold
Line and decorate a mold with wine jelly, cherries, and angelica.
Make the pudding
Soak the sponge cake and ratafias in the custard.
Add the lightly beaten cream, sugar, vanilla, and dissolved gelatine.
Mould the mixture as it begins to set.
Serve
Turn out the pudding when fully set and decorate with chopped jelly.
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.
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Sugar and vanilla 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
- Sponge cake
- Forms the bulk of the pudding and soaks up the custard to hold its shape.
- Custard
- Soaks into the cake and ratafias, adding moisture and a soft, rich texture.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a light, smooth texture to the set pudding.
- Gelatine
- Sets the mixture so the pudding holds its shape when turned out.
- Ratafias
- Add almond-like flavour and soak up custard, adding texture to the pudding.
The step that matters
Mould the mixture as it begins to set. Gelatine sets quickly as it cools. Pouring the mixture into the mold too late can leave it lumpy or unable to fill the mold evenly, while too early may leave it runny and unable to hold its shape.
“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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