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Dessert

Vanilla Cream

A chilled vanilla-flavored cream made with double cream, milk, vanilla essence, gelatin, sugar, and water, garnished with chopped preserved fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Vanilla Cream

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 ↓

Vanilla Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Whip the cream

  1. Whip the cream and milk together until thick.

  2. Flavour with essence of vanilla.

Make the gelatine mixture

  1. Dissolve the gelatine and sugar in a bowl placed in a pan of boiling water with the water.

  2. When slightly cooled, strain the mixture gradually into the whipped cream while stirring slowly.

Mould and serve

  1. Pour into a wet mould and turn out when set.

  2. Garnish with chopped preserved fruit scattered over.

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

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

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Double cream
Whips into a rich, airy base that gives the dessert its body and texture.
Milk
Adds liquid and dilutes the fat, keeping the mixture lighter and softer.
Gelatine
Sets the cream so it holds its shape when turned out of the mould.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and dissolves into the gelatine mixture before it is combined.
Essence of vanilla
Adds the main aroma and flavour to the cream.

The step that matters

Adding the gelatine mixture to the cream. If the gelatine is too hot it will deflate the whipped cream, and if it is too cold it will set in lumps. Cooling it slightly and stirring gently keeps the cream light and evenly set.

“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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