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Dessert

Strawberry Mould

A chilled dessert made with lemon jelly, strawberries, cream, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and strawberry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,525 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Strawberry Mould

Ingredients

Directions

Line and layer the mould

  1. Line a mould with lemon jelly.

  2. Add a layer of halved strawberries.

  3. Set with more jelly.

  4. Place a smaller mould in the center.

  5. Fill the outer space with alternating layers of strawberries and lemon jelly.

  6. Chill the mould on ice to set.

Make the cream filling

  1. Whip the cream to stiff peaks.

  2. Dissolve the gelatin in a little water or milk.

  3. Gradually mix the gelatin into the whipped cream along with the sweetened strawberry pulp.

Fill and chill

  1. Once the jelly is set, remove the inner mould with warm water.

  2. Fill the space with the whipped cream and strawberry pulp mixture.

  3. Return the mould to the ice for 1-2 hours before serving.

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. Cream + strawberrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,525 recipes

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

  2. Lemon + strawberrytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,206 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Lemon + creamtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,640 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Lemon and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,640 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

Lemon jelly
Forms the set, clear layers that hold the strawberries in place.
Strawberries
Provide the main fruit flavour and visible layers in the mould.
Cream
Whipped to add a light, airy texture and richness to the filling.
Leaf gelatine
Sets the whipped cream and pulp mixture so the filling holds its shape when unmoulded.
Strawberry pulp
Adds concentrated strawberry flavour and moisture to the cream filling.

The step that matters

Gradually mix the gelatin into the whipped cream. Gelatin added in one go or while too hot can clump or deflate the whipped cream, and if it sets before blending it leaves streaks. Adding it slowly while the gelatin is still fluid lets it distribute evenly so the filling sets smooth and firm.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, strawberry):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raspberryfits better
  3. Bananafits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, strawberry. 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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