Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Coffee Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 30 minutes.
Place the soaked gelatine over boiling water.
Add the coffee extract and sugar, stirring until the gelatine dissolves.
Remove from heat and stir in the whipped cream.
Strain the mixture into a mold that has been wet with cold water.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid cream into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
- Sweet cream
- Adds richness and a light, airy texture when whipped and folded in.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the coffee mixture and balances its bitterness.
- Coffee extract
- Provides the coffee flavour that defines the dish.
The step that matters
Stir in the whipped cream after removing from heat. Gelatine begins to set as it cools, so the mixture should be off the heat and only slightly cooled before folding in whipped cream. Hot or over-thickened mixture will deflate the cream and cause a grainy or uneven set.
“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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