A set dessert of cream, milk and condensed milk flavoured with instant coffee and held with gelatine. Ten minutes to make and just over an hour in the fridge.
Nothing here is cooked
The card used to claim an hour of cooking time. The only thing that sees heat in this recipe is half a cup of water with gelatine in it, for a minute or two.
That hour is the fridge. It is real time and it belongs on the card, but as setting rather than cooking, which is what it now says.
Cool the gelatine, pour it slowly
Two things, and they protect against the same failure.
Gelatine dissolved in warm water is hot. Two cups of heavy cream straight from the fridge are cold. Where they meet, the gelatine sets instantly into fine threads, and those threads stay suspended through the finished dessert forever.
So: a minute off the heat first, then poured into the running blender in a thin stream on the lowest speed. Both halves matter.
A firm set
Three tablespoons of unflavoured gelatine in roughly four cups of liquid is a lot, and it is deliberate.
What it gives you is a dessert that holds its shape out of the mould and can be sliced, which is why the last step talks about serving it in small portions rather than in glasses.
For something softer, two tablespoons is plenty and it can be set straight in the glasses it will be eaten from.
Instant coffee, on purpose
A tablespoon of instant coffee powder goes into the blender with the milk and cream.
It dissolves completely in cold liquid, which brewed coffee obviously does not, and it delivers a strong flavour without adding any volume. Replacing it with a cup of brewed coffee would mean a cup less of something else, and the set would change.
The same powder goes over the top at the end as a garnish.
More coffee
- Colombian coffee — made with aguapanela.
- Coffee granizado — the same coffee, frozen.
- Three milks dessert — set with gelatine too.
- Coffee cake — the baked one.
Coffee Dessert FAQ
Because poured in hot onto two cups of cold cream it sets on contact, leaving fine rubbery threads through the dessert that no amount of blending removes. A minute off the heat is enough.
Firm. Three tablespoons of gelatine in four cups of liquid gives something that holds its shape and slices, which is what the last step assumes. Two tablespoons gives a softer set you eat with a spoon from a glass.
Instant. A tablespoon of powder dissolves into the cold mixture and gives a strong, even flavour without adding liquid. Brewed coffee would thin the whole thing.
About an hour for individual moulds. A single large dish needs longer, since the middle has to cool as well as the edges.
So the gelatine goes in slowly and disperses. Blending fast while pouring hot gelatine into cold cream is the worst combination of the two things that cause threads.
Yes, at this gelatine ratio. Dip the base in warm water for a few seconds first.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream (cold)
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee
- 3 tablespoons unflavored gelatin (a firm set: it slices)
- ½ cup water (for the gelatine)
Notas
Instructions
- Hydrate the gelatin in half a cup of water, warm it gently and stir so it does not go lumpy. Take it off the heat and let it cool for a minute.
- In a blender, combine the milk, the heavy cream, the condensed milk and the coffee.
- Start blending on the lowest speed and pour the dissolved gelatin in slowly, in a thin stream.
- Pour the mixture into a dish or into individual moulds.
- Refrigerate for about an hour, until it has set.
- Serve in small portions, with a little coffee sprinkled over the top or a sauce alongside.
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