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 ↓
Italian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Soak the gelatine in cold water until dissolved.
Combine milk, egg yolks, and dissolved gelatine in a saucepan.
Cook until thickened like custard.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the hot custard, then flavor with vanilla.
Line your moulds with cake and fill with the custard mixture.
Set aside to cool.
Make the cake and bake
Beat 3 eggs in a bowl.
Add sugar and beat again.
Mix in cream of tartar.
Add flour and baking soda.
Beat until smooth.
Bake in two loaf pans for a whiter cake.
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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 enrich and thicken the custard, while whipped whites add air and lightness.
- Gelatine
- Sets the custard so it holds its shape when cooled in the moulds.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries its richness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the cake a tender crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acid to release gas that makes the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides the acid that activates baking soda and stabilizes whipped egg whites.
The step that matters
Folding the beaten egg whites into the hot custard. Whites are a foam of trapped air, and the air is what lightens the custard. Fold gently and briefly so the foam is not deflated and the mixture stays smooth and airy.
“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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