Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Strawberry Bavarian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the strawberries
Pick and wash the strawberries in a colander.
Mash the strawberries and mix in the sugar; let stand for 30 minutes.
Soak the gelatine in enough water to cover for 1 hour.
Whip the cream until frothy.
Strain the strawberry mixture through a coarse strainer.
Set and chill
Dissolve the gelatine in the hot water and add it to the strawberries.
Place a basin in ice water and stir the mixture until it thickens.
Fold in the whipped cream, then pour into a mould and refrigerate until hardened.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Strawberries
- Provide the main flavour, colour and fruit body of the cream.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the strawberries and draws out their juice when mashed.
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid mixture into a firm, sliceable cream as it cools.
- Cream
- Whipped into the mixture to add lightness, richness and a smooth texture.
The step that matters
Stir over ice water until it thickens. Gelatine sets as it cools, so the mixture must thicken to a soft, spoonable state before folding in the whipped cream. If it sets too firmly, it won't blend evenly; if it stays thin, the cream will deflate and the dessert may not hold its shape.
“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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