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Dessert

Coffee Jelly

A chilled coffee-flavored gelatin dessert made with coffee infusion, gelatin, sugar, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Coffee Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the jelly

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes.

  2. Dissolve the soaked gelatin in boiling water.

  3. Stir in the sugar until dissolved.

  4. Add the coffee infusion and mix well.

  5. Pour into a mold and refrigerate until set.

Serve

  1. Serve with cream and sugar.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

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

  3. Gelatin + coffeetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together146 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Forms the gel network that sets the jelly and gives it a wobbly, firm texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the bitterness of the coffee.
Coffee infusion
Provides the main coffee flavour and most of the liquid in the jelly.

The step that matters

Dissolve the soaked gelatin in boiling water. Gelatin must be fully dissolved to set evenly. Undissolved granules leave weak or grainy spots, and gelatin that is boiled for too long can lose some of its setting power.

“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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