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Dessert

Cream

A coffee-flavored gelatin dessert made with strong coffee, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Cream

Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Soak the gelatine in the coffee until nearly dissolved.

  2. In an enamelled saucepan, combine the coffee with the milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla essence.

  3. Stir over low heat until almost boiling.

Set

  1. Pour the mixture into a wetted mould.

  2. Let it set overnight.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Coffee + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,391 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  5. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

Vanilla and sugar 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

Gelatine
Provides the setting structure that turns the liquid into a firm, sliceable gel.
Coffee
Supplies the main flavour and most of the liquid in the set dessert.
Milk
Adds softness and a mild, creamy body that dilutes the coffee's bitterness.
Cream
Adds richness and a smoother mouthfeel to the set gel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the bitterness of the strong coffee.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat until almost boiling. Gentle heat fully dissolves the gelatine without overheating the milk. Prolonged boiling can weaken gelatine's setting power and can scorch or boil over the dairy, so keep the heat low and stop before a full boil.

“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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