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Dessert

Charlotte Eusse

A chilled custard dessert made with sponge cake, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Charlotte Eusse

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the isinglass in cold water for 2 hours, weighted down to prevent floating.

  2. Line molds with thin strips of sponge cake, using egg white to stick the edges together.

Make the custard

  1. Scald the milk over boiling water.

  2. Beat the egg yolks and mix in the sugar, then pour the hot milk over them.

  3. Remove the isinglass from the water and add it to the hot custard, stirring over boiling water until slightly thickened.

  4. Let cool.

Whip and set

  1. Whip the cream in a deep bowl, draining the froth through a sieve.

  2. Return the drained cream to the bowl and whip as much as possible, adding any unwhipped cream to the custard.

  3. Once the custard is cool and thick, beat it thoroughly with the whipped cream.

  4. Pour the mixture into the molds and place on ice.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that thickens the custard so the dessert holds its shape when chilled.
Cream
Whipped into foam that gives the set dessert a light, airy texture.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and add richness as they cook gently with the milk.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, carrying the flavour and setting with the yolks.
Sponge cake
Lines the molds, giving the charlotte a soft cake edge and structure around the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the cream and yolks.

The step that matters

Adding the isinglass to the hot custard. Isinglass must be fully dissolved and stirred evenly into the custard over heat. If the custard is too hot or stirred poorly, the setting agent can clump or lose strength, so the dessert may not set properly.

“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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