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Dessert

Almond Charlotte

A layered dessert of crumbled sponge cake, wine, chopped almonds, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,130 recipes. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓

Almond Charlotte

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Crumble the sponge cake into fine pieces.

  2. In a glass dish, layer the crumbled cake and sprinkle a little wine over it.

  3. Add a large handful of chopped almonds on top.

  4. Spread a layer of whipped cream over the almonds.

  5. Repeat the layers of cake, wine, almonds, and whipped cream until the dish is full.

  6. Finish with a layer of whipped cream on top.

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. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  2. Wine + creamtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Wine + almondtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sponge cake
Forms the bulk of the dish and soaks up wine and cream for a soft texture.
Whipped cream
Adds moisture and richness, and sets the layers together as it settles into the cake.
Wine
Moistens the sponge cake and adds a light acidity that balances the sweetness.
Chopped almonds
Contributes crunch and a nutty aroma that contrasts with the soft cake and cream.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, cream):

  1. Chestnutfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Hazelnutfits about as well
  4. Cocoafits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against wine, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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