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Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A gelatin-based custard dessert with sponge cake, milk, cream, eggs, sugar, and flavoring.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard base

  1. Soak the gelatine in the milk.

  2. Scald the cream in an inner boiler.

  3. Beat the yolks of the eggs to a thick foam.

  4. Dissolve the gelatine in the boiling cream and add salt.

  5. Beat the sugar into the yolks while keeping the cream hot.

  6. Gradually pour the cream into the yolks and sugar, beating continuously.

  7. Continue beating until light and cold.

Finish and set

  1. Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.

  2. Fold the egg whites into the mixture until frothy.

  3. Flavor with extract and pour into moulds lined with fresh sponge cake.

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

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

  2. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Gelatine
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when cold.
Egg yolks
Enrich the custard base and add richness and body.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, light texture to the set dessert.
Egg whites
Whipped to a foam, they lighten the mixture and give it airiness.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the flavor.
Sponge cake
Lines the moulds, giving the dessert a soft base and structure.

The step that matters

Gradually pour the cream into the yolks and sugar, beating continuously. Pouring hot cream into yolks too quickly can scramble the eggs. Adding it slowly while beating gently raises the yolks' temperature evenly so the custard stays smooth.

“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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