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Dessert

Cold Cabinet Pudding

A chilled custard pudding made with Savoy biscuits, ratafias, cherries, gelatin, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla 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 ↓

Cold Cabinet Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mould

  1. Ornament the bottom of a pint mould with cherries and angelica.

  2. Split the Savoy biscuits in half and line the sides of the mould evenly, alternating back and front.

  3. Add the ratafias into the mould.

Make the custard

  1. Stir the egg yolks into the milk.

  2. Pour the mixture into a jug.

  3. Stand the jug in boiling water.

  4. Stir until thickened, ensuring it does not curdle.

  5. Melt the gelatine in a little water.

  6. Strain the melted gelatine into the custard.

  7. Once cool, mix in the cream, vanilla, and sugar.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture carefully into the mould over the cakes.

  2. Place the mould on ice or in a cool place to set.

  3. When set, turn out and serve.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Biscuit + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together422 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

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

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

  5. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set when gently heated, giving it richness.
Gelatine
Sets the cooled custard so it holds its shape when turned out.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that the yolks thicken.
Savoy biscuits
Line the mould, giving the pudding a structured, cake-like edge and absorbing moisture.
Cream
Adds fat and softness, making the set custard smoother and richer.

The step that matters

Stir until thickened, ensuring it does not curdle. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat, but too much heat scrambles them, leaving a grainy, curdled custard. Keeping the jug in simmering rather than vigorously boiling water and stirring constantly prevents this.

“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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