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Dessert

Orange Cream

A gelatin-based orange custard dessert made with orange juice, rind, egg yolks, sugar, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Orange Cream

Why it works: Gelatin and cream match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Orange Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatin

  1. Soak gelatin in cold water for 30 minutes.

  2. Place gelatin over boiling water until dissolved.

  3. Stir in orange juice and grated rind (let rind soak in juice while gelatin dissolves).

Make the cream

  1. Add beaten egg yolks and sugar, mixing well.

  2. Fold in whipped sweet cream.

  3. Strain mixture into a mold wet with cold water.

  4. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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

Gelatin
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
Egg yolks
Add richness and body, thickening the mixture and softening its flavor.
Sweet cream
Whipped to add air and a light, creamy texture to the set dessert.
Orange juice
Provides the main citrus flavor and moisture for the dessert.
Sugar
Sweetens the dessert and balances the acidity of the orange juice.

The step that matters

Dissolve the gelatin fully before adding the other ingredients. Gelatin left undissolved or overheated will not set evenly. Adding it to the cream mixture while it is still lumpy leaves a grainy texture, and fully dissolved gelatin blends smoothly and sets firm.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (gelatin, egg, sugar, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, egg, sugar, cream. 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.

More orange cream recipes

Pie 18Custard 17Pudding 10Ice 5Sauce 4Dessert 3 See all 99 →

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