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Dessert

The Bakewell Pudding

A custard-like pudding with candied peel and preserved fruits, baked in a puff pastry crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Melon and apricot share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

The Bakewell Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the base

  1. Beat the yolks of 4 eggs and the whites of 2 eggs with 1 lb of powdered sugar and 1 lb of clarified butter until well mixed.

  2. Place the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens.

Assemble and bake

  1. Line a dish with puff pastry and add a layer of candied peel about 1 inch thick.

  2. Pour the egg mixture over the candied peel.

  3. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until set.

Finish

  1. Add 1 pint of milk or milk and cream to the mixture, stirring until incorporated.

  2. Optionally, add ratafia or brandy when the mixture is near boiling.

  3. Optionally, substitute some of the candied peel with preserved fruits and top with apricot or raspberry jam for decoration.

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. Melon + apricottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together35 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Brandy + apricottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together513 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Milk + apricottop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together826 recipes

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

  5. Milk + melontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together69 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg proteins set when heated, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable body.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the filling a smooth, fine texture.
Clarified butter
Supplies fat for richness and a silky, tender mouthfeel in the filling.
Milk
Adds moisture and dilutes the rich filling, keeping it softer and more custard-like.

The step that matters

Thickening the mixture over low heat. Egg proteins coagulate when heated, so heating too fast or without constant stirring can curdle or scramble the mixture. Gentle, constant stirring over low heat lets it thicken smoothly.

Swap the apricot

The recipe marks apricot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, brandy, melon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Peachfits about as well
  4. Apricotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, brandy, melon. 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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