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Dessert

Strawberry Mould

A gelatin dessert made with lemon jelly, strawberries, whipped cream, and strawberry pulp.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and strawberry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,130 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Strawberry Mould

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly layers

  1. Line a mould with lemon jelly.

  2. Add a layer of halved strawberries.

  3. Set the layer with more jelly.

  4. Place a smaller mould in the center.

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

  6. Set the mould on ice to firm up.

Make the cream filling

  1. Whip the cream to stiff peaks.

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

  3. Gradually mix the gelatine into the whipped cream.

  4. Add the sweetened strawberry pulp to the mixture.

Assemble 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 with cream.

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. Milk + strawberrytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,130 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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

  5. Cream + milktop 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

Lemon jelly
Forms the clear, sliced-setting body of the mould and holds the strawberry layers in place.
Strawberries
Add fruit flavour, colour and moisture to the layers.
Whipped cream
Gives the filling a light, airy texture and richness.
Leaf gelatine
Sets the cream and pulp mixture so it holds its shape when unmoulded.
Strawberry pulp
Adds concentrated strawberry flavour and sweetness to the cream filling.

The step that matters

Gradually mix the gelatine into the whipped cream. Gelatine that is added in a stream or left to set in lumps will not distribute evenly, producing streaks or rubbery pockets. Adding it gradually into the cream keeps the set smooth and uniform.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, milk, 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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