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Dessert

Nesselrode Pudding

A gelatin-based chocolate custard dessert layered with sponge cake, sherry-soaked fruits, and chilled in an ice‑cream mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Wine and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,645 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Nesselrode Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatine in a little cold milk for 1 hour.

  2. Remove the crust and cut the sponge cake into 1-inch thick slices, then trim them evenly.

  3. Soak the cake slices in a little sherry wine.

Build the mold

  1. Fit a layer of soaked cake in the bottom of a tin ice-cream mold.

  2. Layer mixed fruits on top of the cake, adding them bit by bit.

  3. Cover the fruit with another layer of cake, leaving space between the cake and the mold.

  4. Repeat until the mold is nearly filled.

Make the custard

  1. Prepare the chocolate custard according to the recipe for Boiled Custard.

  2. When boiling hot, dissolve the soaked gelatine in it.

  3. Strain the custard and set aside to cool.

  4. When cold, carefully pour the custard into the mold, filling it not quite full.

Chill and serve

  1. Fit the cover closely and seal the crack with a strip of muslin dipped in melted butter.

  2. Set the mold in a tub of ice and salt, with 3 inches of ice and 1 inch of salt.

  3. Cover with a carpet and place in a cold area for about 6 hours.

  4. Ensure the ice is kept over the mold and renew if necessary.

  5. When ready, turn out of the mold and serve with whipped cream sauce.

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. Wine + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Sherry + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,543 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sherry + raisintop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together386 recipes

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

  5. Chocolate + sherrytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together94 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the custard so the pudding holds its shape when turned out.
Sponge cake
Forms the firm layers that hold the fruit and soak up the sherry.
Chocolate custard
Provides the rich, creamy body that fills the mold around the cake and fruit.
Sherry wine
Moistens the cake and adds a warm, aromatic flavour.
Mixed preserved, candied, and brandied fruits
Adds sweetness and chewy texture between the cake layers.

The step that matters

Pour the custard when it is cold, not quite full. Hot custard can soften the cake and fruit layers and cause uneven setting, while overfilling can spill or push the seal open as the custard expands during chilling. Gelatine needs to be fully dissolved in boiling custard and then cooled so it sets evenly.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chocolate, sherry, wine, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Pineapplefits better
  3. Grapefits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, sherry, wine, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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