Home › The Principles of Cookery › Swiss Cream
Swiss Cream
Crumble a quarter of a pound of macaroons and two or three penny spongecakes, or use a mixture of macaroons and ratafias. Lay the crumbs in a glass dish. Pour over them a glassful of sherry, and spread a spoonful or two of jam upon them. If a plain dish is required, the sherry or the jam, or both, may be omitted. Simmer the thin rind of half a lemon, or a little piece of vanilla, in half a cupful of milk till it is nicely flavoured. Add a pint of cream and as much sugar as will sweeten it pleasantly. Mix a table-spoonful of cornflour smoothly with a little cold milk, and add this gradually to the rest. Stir the mixture over a gentle fire till it boils; pour it out, and stir it again till it is almost cold. Add the juice of a lemon, and pour the cream over the cakes in the dish. Ornament the top with bright-coloured jelly or jam, or with strips of angelica. If liked, two table-spoonfuls of arrowroot may be substituted for the cornflour, or a table-spoonful of flour even may be used. The cream should stand in a cool place three or four hours before it is wanted.
A Victorian cold cream set over soaked cake crumbs — essentially an ungelatinised trifle. The method is straightforward, but two steps decide whether it succeeds.
- Add the lemon juice coldThe acid goes in only after the thickened cream has been stirred until nearly cold. Poured into a hot starch-thickened cream it will curdle the dairy and thin the set. This is the hinge of the recipe.
- Cornflour is cornstarchBritish cornflour is the same fine white starch sold in the US as cornstarch, not maize flour. Slaking it with cold milk before it meets the hot liquid is what prevents lumps.
- Ratafias and penny spongecakesRatafias are small crisp almond macaroons, still sold in Britain as ratafia biscuits; amaretti substitute well. Penny spongecakes were small individual sponges; trifle sponges or sponge fingers are the nearest modern equivalent.
- A glassful of sherryThe recipe says only 'a glassful'; a wineglass in this period was conventionally reckoned at about 2 fl oz, a quarter cup, but the quantity is loose. Use a medium or cream sherry; the crumbs should be damp, not swimming.
- A pint of creamAn imperial pint is 20 fl oz, two and a half US cups. Single cream or half-and-half gives the texture intended; double or heavy cream makes it very rich and thick once chilled.
- Gentle heat, and let it boilCornflour needs to reach a full boil to lose its raw taste and thicken fully, but the cream will catch if the pan is hot. Use a heavy pan and stir constantly to the bottom and corners.
- Arrowroot behaves differentlyThe suggested two tablespoons of arrowroot set softer and clearer than cornflour, and arrowroot breaks down if held at a boil — bring it just to the boil and take it off. Plain flour gives a duller, more custard-like result.
- AngelicaCandied angelica stems, the bright green strips used for Victorian decoration, are now a specialist item. Any glossy jam, redcurrant jelly or candied peel serves the same decorative purpose.
- Chilling and yieldThe three or four hours in a cool place are not optional; the starch continues to set and the crumbs need time to soften. The quantities suggest a dish for six or so, though the recipe gives no yield.
"Swiss cream" appears as a recipe name in nineteenth-century English cookery books for a cold dished or moulded cream, here thickened with starch rather than gelatine or eggs. The connection to Switzerland is obscure, and names of this kind were often applied loosely to fancy creams. What distinguishes it from a proper trifle is the absence of custard: the cornflour does the work of the eggs. The note that the sherry and jam may both be omitted "if a plain dish is required" offers the same recipe at two levels of expense.