17^th century

Piramidis Creams

Steeple creams, Spanish paps and piramidis creams were all seventeenth century leach-type opaque white jellies made with various gelling agents such as hartshorn, isinglass, calves foot jelly, ivory, gum arabic, etcetera. They were moulded in old-fashioned drinking glasses that were slightly fluted. Recipes would often mention that the jelly should look like a sugar loaf.

Moulds were produced for this kind of jelly too. They were conical and provided great amusement for dinner guests when the unmoulded jelly was brought to the table. They have a tendency to wobble in the most hilarious fashion. The Solomon’s Temple moulds would also have a wobble but nothing surpassed the wobble of this one.

The recipes for these jellies are too long to include here, as the preparation of this jelly was no walk in the park. Luckily we have modern gelatine and don’t need to create all kinds of concoctions to make this jelly stiff enough to stand up. The jelly was flavoured with almond and rosewater but also with musk and ambergris. These flavourings – also used in perfumes – were derived from animals, so they are no longer readily available today.

If you are using fluted glasses, these puddings can be really fun to make for a party. The original piramidis cream would have been decorated with pine nuts stuck into it. Although this might have looked the part in the olden days, I find a clean white conical jelly far more appealing. You can, of course, colour it as well.

For a recipe we are using the almond flummery but doubling the gelatine so you get a good wobble and have a good laugh. I must admit this pudding is more for fun than it is for eating, as the large amount of gelatine might not be everyone’s idea of a delicious pudding!