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Dessert

Charlotte Russe Pudding

A custard-based pudding with sponge cake layers, baked and topped with a sweet meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Charlotte Russe Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat three pints of milk to near the boiling point.

  2. Stir in the yolks of eight eggs and one large spoonful of corn starch.

  3. Let the mixture thicken a little, then sweeten and flavor to taste.

Assemble and bake

  1. Lay slices of sponge cake in a pudding dish.

  2. Pour the custard over the cake slices.

  3. Let the pudding bake.

Ice and brown

  1. Make an icing by beating eight egg whites and four tablespoonfuls of sugar.

  2. Spread the icing over the baked pudding and brown slightly.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

731Calories
27 gProtein
14 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo. 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. See the original page.

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 + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,168 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard, while beaten whites form a light icing that sets and browns.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that sets around the cake.
Corn starch
Thickens the custard so it holds its body when baked.
Sponge cake (in the method)
Provides the absorbent base that soaks up the custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and stiffens the egg white icing.

The step that matters

Spread the icing over the baked pudding and brown slightly. Beaten egg whites are foamy and can deflate or weep if overbaked; brown them only briefly so the icing stays tender and turns golden through browning.

“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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