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Dessert

Coffee Mousse

A chilled dessert made with gelatin, coffee, sugar, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Coffee Mousse

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Dissolve gelatin in cold water, then add boiling water and stir until fully dissolved.

  2. Mix in strong coffee and sugar, then strain the mixture and chill it, stirring occasionally.

Set and serve

  1. Once it starts to set, beat the mixture until foamy, then gently fold in the whipped cream.

  2. Pour the mixture into a mold, cover it, and pack it in ice and salt. Let it stand for 4 to 6 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. 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. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Gelatin
Sets the liquid into a light, firm structure as it chills.
Whipped cream
Adds air and richness, giving the mousse its light, creamy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the mousse and balances the bitterness of the coffee.
Strong coffee
Provides the main flavor and liquid for the mousse.

The step that matters

Beat the mixture only once it starts to set. Gelatin begins forming a network as it cools. Beating at that point traps air and holds the foam; if the mixture is too liquid, the air escapes and the mousse turns out dense or weepy.

“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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