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 ↓
Coffee Cream Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the coffee milk
Roast the coffee over low heat until light in color.
Soak the roasted coffee in boiling milk for 30 minutes with the lid on.
Make the custard
In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks and powdered sugar, then stir over low heat until thickened.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.
Finish and freeze
Combine with whipped cream and freeze.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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 and add richness through their emulsifying fats and proteins.
- Whipped cream
- Adds fat and air, giving the frozen ice a light, smooth texture.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the base and lowers its freezing point for a softer texture.
- Raw coffee
- Provides the main coffee flavor once roasted and infused into the milk.
- Milk
- Carries the coffee flavor and forms the liquid base of the custard.
The step that matters
Stir the egg yolk mixture over low heat until thickened. Egg yolk proteins set gently around 70°C; too much heat scrambles them into lumps, so keep the heat low and stir constantly.
“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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