For Cream
Half a pint of Peach Purée.
Half a pint of Whipped Cream.
Two ounces of Castor Sugar.
One gill of Peach Syrup.
One ounce of Gelatine (light weight).
One teaspoonful of Lemon Juice.
A few drops of Cochineal.
One teaspoonful of Kirsch.
This is a component formula rather than a full method — the cream is one layer or filling of a larger moulded sweet, and the book assumes you know the standard procedure for a fruit cream. The proportions are the useful part; the assembly needs filling in.
- The order that mattersDissolve the gelatine in the warmed peach syrup, strain it into the sweetened purée with the lemon juice, kirsch and colouring, then cool the mixture over ice until it thickens to the consistency of unbeaten cream before folding in the whipped cream. Fold cream into a warm base and it will thin, separate and set in layers.
- Gills and pintsThis is an English book, so a pint is 20 fl oz and a gill is 5 fl oz — half a pint here is 10 fl oz, not 8. American sources of the same era often use a gill as half a cup (4 fl oz); the difference is small but the British reading is the right one for this text.
- One ounce of gelatineThat is roughly four modern 1/4-oz envelopes for about 1 1/4 pints of liquid, which would give a rubbery, sliceable set. Period gelatine was probably less consistently graded than today's 200-bloom powder or leaf, and "light weight" seems to call for a light or scant ounce rather than a full one. For a spoonable cream, far less is needed; for a mould turned out onto a dish, expect a firm one.
- Castor sugarSuperfine or caster sugar. Granulated will work if the purée is warmed enough to dissolve it, but it can leave a slight grittiness in a cold cream.
- Peach syrupPresumably tinned or bottled peaches in syrup, or peaches poached in sugar syrup. Drain that liquid off for the gill called for; if you are using fresh fruit, poach it and reserve the poaching syrup.
- CochinealA red colouring made from the dried bodies of the cochineal insect, commonly sold as a liquid in this period. It is still available as carmine or E120, though a modern cook may prefer a food colour or simply leave the cream the pale apricot colour the fruit gives it.
- Whipped creamWhip to soft peaks only. The mixture will be stirred and folded again as it sets, and cream taken to stiff peaks first will turn grainy or buttery by the time the mould is filled.
- YieldAbout 1 1/4 pints of finished mixture — enough for a pint-and-a-half mould with room for a layer of jelly, or six small glasses.
Moulded fruit creams of this kind sit between the old English "cream" and the French bavarois: a sweetened fruit purée set with gelatine and lightened with whipped cream, turned out of a decorative mould and often layered or lined with clear jelly. They belong to the high period of the gelatine mould, when commercially refined sheet gelatine had replaced the laborious home-boiled calf's-foot stock and any competent cook could produce a fruit cream that stood up on a dish. The kirsch is the conventional partner to stone fruit in professional pastry work, and the cochineal is a reminder that colouring a sweet to a confident pink was considered part of the job rather than an embellishment. That the page gives quantities alone, headed simply "For Cream", tells you the book was written for readers who already knew the method and needed only the proportions.