Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Italian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dissolve the gelatine in a little of the cream, adding milk to thin it.
Rub the strawberries through a sieve and mix half the sugar into them.
Make and set the dessert
Whip the remaining sugar into the cream until frothy.
Mix in the dissolved gelatine and the strawberry syrup.
Pour the mixture into molds and refrigerate until set.
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.
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid cream and strawberry mixture into a firm, sliceable dessert as it cools.
- Double cream
- Adds richness, fat and a smooth, creamy texture to the set dessert.
- Strawberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour, colour and liquid for the dessert.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and strawberries and balances the fruit's acidity.
The step that matters
Dissolving the gelatine. Gelatine must be fully dissolved before it is mixed in, because undissolved granules leave lumps and uneven setting. Overheating it can also weaken its ability to set, so the mixture should be warm, not boiling.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.