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Dessert

Bayarais of Coffee

A set custard dessert flavoured with coffee essence, lightened with whipped cream and gelatine, and turned out of a mould.

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

Bayarais of Coffee

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Make a boiled custard by heating the milk and egg yolks until thickened, then let it cool.

  2. Whip the cream until stiff.

  3. Dissolve the gelatine in ½ cup of water.

Assemble

  1. Mix the coffee, sugar, and custard together, then fold in the whipped cream.

  2. Strain in the dissolved gelatine and mix well.

  3. Decorate a mould with red jelly, pour in the mixture, and let it set in the refrigerator.

Unmould and serve

  1. Once set, dip the mould in hot water, shake gently, and turn it out onto a glass dish.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

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

  3. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

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

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and structure to the cream.
Gelatine
Sets the cream so it holds its shape when turned out.
Cream
Whipped to add airy volume and a smooth, rich texture.
Essence of coffee
Gives the cream its coffee flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and balances the coffee flavour.

The step that matters

Dissolve the gelatine fully before straining it in. Gelatine must be completely dissolved and well mixed through the cream; undissolved specks leave a grainy texture and uneven setting.

“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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