Skip to main content
Dessert

Spanish Cream

A custard dessert made with milk, eggs, gelatin, vanilla, and sugar, folded with beaten egg whites and chilled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Spanish Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatine and custard

  1. Soak ½ box gelatin in cold water for 1 hour.

  2. Boil 1 quart of milk, then add the dissolved gelatin and let it boil.

  3. Stir in the yolks of 8 eggs.

  4. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  5. Fold the beaten egg whites into the custard after removing it from the heat.

  6. Add vanilla and salt to the mixture.

Make the custard and set

  1. Beat together 2 eggs and ½ cup sugar for the pudding.

  2. Heat 1 pint of sweet milk in a steamer and stir in the egg and sugar mixture until it forms a soft custard.

  3. Stir in the soaked gelatin and vanilla.

  4. When the custard is cold but not hard, fold in the beaten egg whites until foamy.

  5. Pour into a mold and refrigerate until set.

  6. Serve with whipped cream.

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. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

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

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

Vanilla and sugar 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 custard into a firm, sliceable body as it cools.
Egg yolks
Enrich the custard and thicken it into a smooth, soft texture.
Egg whites
Whipped to foam, they lighten the custard into a airy, delicate texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and gives it body and richness.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the eggs and milk.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. If the custard is still warm or has begun to set firm, the beaten whites will deflate or stay lumpy. Let it cool until just thick, then fold gently so the foam holds its air.

“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 spanish cream recipes

Pudding 3 See all 231 →

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipes