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Dessert

Charlotte Rtjsse

A chilled dessert of gelatin-set milk custard and whipped cream, lined in a mould with lady fingers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 Rtjsse

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Dissolve the gelatin in the milk and bring to a boil.

  2. Pour the hot milk over the beaten egg yolks and add the sugar and essence.

  3. Stir occasionally until it begins to thicken.

Assemble and set

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites and whipped cream.

  2. Line the bottom and sides of four moulds with lady fingers.

  3. Fill the moulds with the mixture and chill on ice if the weather is mild.

Serve

  1. Trim the edges of the cake before turning out onto plates.

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. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

Egg whites
Whipped to foam, they lighten the mixture and give the set dessert an airy texture.
Heavy cream
Whipped and folded in, it adds richness and a soft, moist texture.
Egg yolks
Thicken the warm milk as they cook gently, giving the mixture body and richness.
Gelatin
Sets the liquid mixture so the dessert holds its shape when turned out.
Lady fingers
Line the moulds, giving the dessert a sponge structure and a cake-like edge.

The step that matters

Stir the custard until it just begins to thicken. Egg yolks thicken at gentle heat, but overheating can scramble them into lumps. Stopping at the first thickening keeps the custard smooth so it folds well with the whites and cream.

“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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