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Dessert

Coffee Spanish Cream

A custard dessert made with milk, coffee, eggs, gelatin, sugar, and vanilla.

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.

  2. Heat until gelatin is dissolved.

  3. Strain the mixture.

  4. Add the clear coffee.

  5. Beat the egg yolks with sugar in a separate bowl.

  6. Add the beaten yolks to the mixture.

  7. Cook until thickened, about 15 minutes.

  8. Remove from heat.

Finish and chill

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites until well combined.

  2. Add vanilla extract. Mix well.

  3. Refrigerate to cool.

  4. 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 + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard when cooked, and whites add lightness when folded in.
Gelatin
Sets the chilled mixture so it holds its shape when served.
Milk
Forms the creamy base of the custard and adds richness.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps stabilise the beaten yolks.
Strong coffee
Provides the coffee flavour that defines the dessert.

The step that matters

Cook until thickened. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but overheating can make them scramble and turn grainy. Cook gently and stop once the custard 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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