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Dessert

Bavarian Cream

A custard dessert made with milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, wine, and gelatin, folded with beaten egg whites and chilled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Bavarian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatine in a little water.

  2. Boil the milk in a saucepan.

  3. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar.

Make the custard

  1. Add the beaten yolks to the boiling milk.

  2. Stir in the soaked gelatine.

  3. Add the beaten egg whites.

  4. Remove from heat once thickened.

  5. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  6. Gradually fold in the yolk mixture.

  7. Flavor with vanilla and wine.

Mold and set

  1. Pour into wet molds.

  2. Refrigerate until set.

Serve

  1. Serve with whipped cream and wine or plain cream and sugar.

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. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + winetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together887 recipes

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

  5. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and whites, beaten to peaks, add lightness and airy structure.
Gelatine
Sets the cooled custard so it holds its shape when turned out of the mold.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that the eggs thicken and the gelatine sets.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the eggs and milk.
Vanilla
Adds aroma and a rounded, familiar flavor to the cream.
Wine
Adds a distinct flavor note and aroma to the cream.

The step that matters

Add the beaten yolks to the boiling milk. Hot milk can scramble egg yolks if they are added too quickly. Pouring slowly while whisking spreads the heat so the yolks thicken smoothly instead of curdling.

“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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