Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Charlotte Russe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the molds
Line three molds with the sponge cake slices, leaving ½ inch space between each slice.
Whip the cream
Fill a deep tin pan one-third full of ice, and set another pan that holds at least four quarts inside it.
In a deep bowl, whip the cream until frothy, skimming the froth into the pan on ice.
Continue whipping and skimming until all the cream is whipped, then return any liquid cream to the bowl and whip again.
Set and serve
Stir in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and dissolved gelatine until the mixture begins to thicken.
Fill the molds with the mixture and place them on ice for one hour.
To serve, loosen the sides and turn out onto a flat dish.
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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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
- Cream
- Whipped into foam that gives the dessert its light, airy body.
- Gelatine
- Sets the whipped cream so the dessert holds its shape when turned out.
- Sponge cake
- Forms the outer structure and lining of the molds around the cream filling.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cream and dissolves easily into it without graininess.
The step that matters
Stir in the gelatine while the mixture is still liquid. Gelatine must be fully dissolved and stirred in before the cream thickens, or it will set in lumps and the dessert will not hold its shape evenly.
“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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