Why it works: Vanilla and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Italian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pour enough warm water over the gelatine to dissolve it thoroughly.
Sweeten and flavor the cream with sugar and vanilla to taste.
Make and set
Whip the cream to a very stiff froth.
Stir in the lukewarm gelatine.
Mold the mixture and place it in a cool place for a while.
Serve
Serve with or without additional cream.
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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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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
- Cox's gelatine
- Sets the cream into a firm, sliceable mold as it cools.
- Cream
- Provides richness and, when whipped, an airy, light structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream to taste.
The step that matters
Whip the cream to a very stiff froth. Cream must be whipped until it holds stiff peaks, since whipped cream traps air in its fat and protein network, giving the dessert its light texture. Under-whipped cream will be loose and collapse when the gelatine is folded in.
“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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