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Dessert

Economical Charlotte Russe

A chilled dessert of stale cake soaked in mock custard topped with stiff egg whites and chocolate cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Economical Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard and cake

  1. Prepare a quart of mock custard.

  2. Pour the mock custard into a large glass fruit dish filled with stale cake pieces.

  3. Stir the mixture gently.

Top and chill

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

  2. Sweeten the egg whites with white sugar.

  3. Spread the sweetened egg whites over the top of the cake.

  4. Chill in the refrigerator until cold.

Make the chocolate cream

  1. Boil 1½ cups of milk to make the cream.

  2. In a bowl, mix ½ cup sugar, cornstarch, grated chocolate, 1 egg, ½ cup milk, and a pinch of salt.

  3. Pour the mixture into the boiling milk.

  4. Simmer for 1-2 minutes.

  5. Once the cream is cold, pour it over the cake just before serving.

Serve

  1. Serve in saucers.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  4. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, 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

Stale cake
Forms the absorbent base that soaks up the custard and holds the dessert's structure.
Egg whites
Beaten and sweetened, they form a light meringue topping that adds airy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the chocolate cream, giving it a smooth, pourable body.
Egg
Thickens the chocolate cream as it cooks, adding richness and body.
Cornstarch
Thickens the chocolate cream when heated, giving it a smooth, set consistency.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavour and color to the cream.

The step that matters

Simmer the chocolate cream after adding the egg mixture. The egg and cornstarch must be heated gently in the milk long enough to thicken; if left too long or boiled hard, the egg can curdle and the cream may turn grainy.

“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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