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Dessert

Saxon Pudding

A layered sponge cake and macaroon pudding with almonds, cherries, angelica, and a custard mixture of eggs, milk, cream, sherry, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Saxon Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch, peel, shred, and bake the almonds until nicely browned.

  2. Butter a plain charlotte mold and decorate the bottom with halves of cherries and strips of angelica.

  3. Sprinkle the sides thickly with the prepared almonds.

Assemble and steam

  1. Fill the mold with alternate layers of sponge cake, macaroon, and ratafias.

  2. Beat the eggs well, then add the milk, cream, sherry, and vanilla.

  3. Pour the mixture into the mold, cover with buttered paper, and let it stand for 1 hour.

  4. Steam for 1 to 1½ hours.

Serve

  1. Serve with fruit syrup, German sauce, or whipped cream.

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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

  3. Almond + angelicatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Angelica + vanillatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together170 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Sherry + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard so the layered cake holds together when steamed.
Sponge cakes
Form the bulk of the pudding and soak up the custard as it stands.
Milk
Thins the egg mixture and adds moisture to the custard.
Cream
Adds richness and a softer, smoother texture to the custard.
Almonds
Add toasted flavor and a crunchy texture on the sides of the mold.
Macaroons
Add almond sweetness and chewy texture between the cake layers.

The step that matters

Let the mold stand for 1 hour before steaming. During this rest the sponge, macaroon, and ratafia layers soak up the egg custard, so the pudding sets evenly and the cake does not stay dry. Gentle steaming then sets the eggs without curdling them.

Swap the angelica

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, cream, sherry, almond, vanilla):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Angelicathe original
  4. Peppermintfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, cream, sherry, almond, vanilla. 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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