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Dessert

Coffee Spanish Cream

A custard-like dessert made with milk, coffee, eggs, gelatin, and vanilla, chilled and served with cream and sugar.

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

Coffee Spanish Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Combine milk and gelatin in a double boiler and heat until gelatin is dissolved.

  2. Strain the coffee and let it settle until clear, then add it to the milk mixture.

  3. Beat egg yolks with sugar.

  4. Add the beaten yolks to the mixture and cook until thickened, about 15 minutes.

Finish and chill

  1. Remove from heat and fold in the beaten egg whites.

  2. Add vanilla, mix well, and refrigerate to cool.

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

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

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

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

  3. Coffee + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,391 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

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

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

Milk
Forms the liquid base of the cream and, with the eggs, sets into a custard.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard as they cook, and whipped whites lighten the texture.
Gelatine
Sets the cooled mixture so it holds its shape when chilled.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and balances the bitterness of the coffee.
Strong coffee
Provides the coffee flavour and aroma of the dish.

The step that matters

Cooking the yolk custard until thickened. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but overheating can make them curdle or turn grainy. Cook gently over the double boiler and stop once the mixture coats a spoon.

“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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