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Dessert

Diplomatic Pudding

A layered dessert of wine jelly, custard, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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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 ↓

Diplomatic Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Dissolve ½ box gelatine in ½ cup cold water.

  2. Add 1 cup boiling water, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup sherry.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

Set the mold

  1. Place a 2‑quart mold on a pan of chopped ice.

  2. Pour enough jelly to cover the bottom ½ inch deep.

  3. When firm, arrange candied cherries and angelica cut into shapes, securing them with a few drops of liquid jelly.

  4. Once firm, pour another thin layer of jelly.

  5. When this layer is hard, place a smaller mold in the center of the larger one and fill it with cold water or ice.

  6. Pour the remaining jelly into the space between the two molds.

Make the cream filling

  1. In a double boiler, make a soft custard with 1 pint milk, ½ cup sugar, 4 egg yolks, and a pinch of salt.

  2. Add ½ box gelatine soaked in ½ cup water, stir until dissolved.

  3. Strain and set aside until it thickens.

  4. In a separate bowl, whip 1 pint thick cream with 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon sherry until frothy.

  5. Mix lightly with the thickened custard until thick.

Assemble and chill

  1. Remove the water from the smaller mold and pour in warm water to loosen it.

  2. Lift the smaller mold out carefully.

  3. Fill the opening with the prepared cream.

  4. Smooth the top.

  5. Refrigerate for several hours.

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

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

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

Gelatine
Sets the jelly and the custard so the dessert holds its shape when unmolded.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness through their emulsifying proteins.
Thick cream
Whipped into the custard to give a light, creamy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the jelly and the custard and softens the set texture.
Sherry
Adds aroma and flavor to both the jelly and the cream.

The step that matters

Lift the smaller mold out carefully. The jelly ring must be firm enough to hold its shape. Warm water loosens the mold only briefly, so a hasty or forceful lift can tear or distort the set layers.

Swap the angelica

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, sherry, milk, egg, cream, 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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