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Caledonian Cream

A light dessert made from raspberry jam, red currant jelly, sugar, and folded egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Caledonian Cream

Why it works: Raspberry and red currant match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 155 recipes. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells fruity, sweet. The science ↓

Caledonian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine raspberry jam, red currant jelly, and sifted sugar.

  2. Beat the egg whites for 30 minutes until stiff peaks form.

  3. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the jam mixture until well combined.

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. Raspberry + red curranttop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together155 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Raspberry + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,101 recipes

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

  4. Raspberry + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Red currant + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,156 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks, they trap air and give the cream its light, airy structure.
Raspberry jam
Provides sweetness, fruit flavour and body to the cream.
Red currant jelly
Adds tart fruit flavour and a glossy, set texture to the mixture.
Sifted sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps stabilise the whipped egg whites.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stirring vigorously knocks out the air trapped in the whites, so the cream loses its lightness. Fold gently with a spatula to keep the foam intact.

Swap the red currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raspberry, sugar, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Peachfits better
  3. Red currantthe original
  4. Blueberryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against raspberry, sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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