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Dessert

Brandy Cream

A sweetened cream dessert flavoured with brandy, almonds and egg yolks, thickened by gentle heating and served cooled in cups or glasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Brandy Cream

Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓

Brandy Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Boil the blanched and pounded almonds in a little milk until cold.

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the cream and sweeten to taste.

  3. Add the brandy to the egg mixture and mix well.

Thicken and cool

  1. Pour in the thin cream and heat gently without boiling, stirring continuously until it thickens.

  2. Pour the mixture into cups or low glasses and let it cool.

Serve

  1. If desired, add a ratafia drop to each serving.

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

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

  2. Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  3. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Almond + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,969 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the cream as they set with gentle heat, giving it a rich, smooth body.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the set mixture.
Thin cream
Adds fat and moisture, making the final custard softer and more fluid.
Brandy
Contributes alcohol-based aroma and a warm, distinctive flavour.
Almonds
Pounded and steeped in milk, they add nutty flavour and body to the cream.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard, balancing the richness of the egg and cream.

The step that matters

Heat gently without boiling. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat, but if the mixture gets too hot it can curdle or turn grainy. Stirring continuously spreads heat evenly and keeps the custard smooth as it thickens.

“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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