Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Baked Apple Charlotte
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Peel, slice, and chop the apples.
Grease a pudding dish with butter and cover the bottom with fine crumbs.
Layer and bake
Layer the apples on top, sprinkling with sugar and cinnamon.
Add another layer of crumbs and repeat until the dish is full.
Mix ½ cup of water with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of brandy, then pour it into the dish before adding the final layer of crumbs.
Cover the dish with a deep plate and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the plate and brown the top before serving.
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.
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,291 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,790 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Form the bulk of the filling, softening as they bake to a tender, spoonable texture.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Form the layers that hold the apples in shape and soak up their juices.
- Butter
- Greases the dish so the crumbs and apples release cleanly and the surface can brown.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the apple juices caramelize slightly at the edges.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma to the syrup poured into the dish.
The step that matters
Covering the dish while baking. The deep plate traps steam so the apples cook through and soften before the top is browned. Removing it too early can leave the apples firm and the crumbs dry; browning only after uncovering lets the surface colour without drying the filling.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, bread, sugar, cinnamon, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Applethe original
- Raisinfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, bread, sugar, cinnamon, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
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