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Dessert

Vanilla Cream

A custard made with milk, eggs, gelatin, and vanilla, finished with whipped double cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Vanilla Cream

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 ↓

Vanilla Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Beat the yolks of three eggs and one white in a basin with a wooden spoon.

  2. Stir in ½ pint of milk.

  3. Pour this mixture into a jug.

  4. Fill a saucepan half full of hot water and bring it to a boil.

  5. Move the saucepan to the side of the fire once boiling.

  6. Stand the jug of custard in the saucepan and stir until it thickens.

  7. Remove the jug from the water and let it cool.

Set with gelatine

  1. Soak 1 ounce of gelatin in 2 tablespoons of cold water in a small saucepan.

  2. Heat the saucepan and stir the gelatin until melted.

  3. Strain the melted gelatin and stir it into the custard.

Finish with cream

  1. Whisk ½ pint of double cream in a basin until stiff.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon of caster sugar and ½ teaspoon of essence of vanilla to the 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.

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. 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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they set during gentle heating.
Gelatin
Sets the custard so it holds its shape when chilled.
Double cream
Whisked until stiff to add richness and a light, airy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard.

The step that matters

Stand the jug of custard in the saucepan and stir until it thickens. Egg proteins set at gentle temperatures, but if the water boils too hard or the custard overheats, the eggs can curdle and turn grainy. Keeping the water hot rather than boiling and stirring steadily helps keep it smooth.

“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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