Why it works: Chocolate and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,466 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Charlotte Russe
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Make a rich boiled custard of a quart of milk and six eggs; sweeten with sugar and season with vanilla.
While warm, stir a quart of calf's feet jelly into the custard.
Whip a pint of cream and mix it with the custard.
Assemble the cake
Make a Turk's cap sponge cake.
Cut out the centre of the cake and fill it with the custard mixture.
Place the cake on top of the custard.
Ice the cake when perfectly cold.
Make the chocolate gelatine
Boil one and a half ounces of gelatin in two quarts of good milk.
Add three ounces of the best French chocolate, vanilla, and sugar to taste.
Beat very lightly twelve eggs, omitting the whites of four.
Pour the boiling gelatin mixture very slowly over the eggs.
Put the mixture in a tin saucepan and set it in a pot of boiling water.
Stir the mixture until thick.
Pour the thick mixture into moulds.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Chocolate | 1 oz (28g) semisweet | 155 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Chocolate + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard and set the mixture through heat-driven protein coagulation.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a light, airy texture when whipped and folded into the custard.
- Gelatin
- Sets the liquid mixture into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
- French chocolate
- Adds deep flavour and colour to the chocolate mixture.
- Calf's feet jelly
- Adds gelling strength and body to the custard.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling gelatin mixture very slowly over the eggs. Pouring slowly while whisking gently keeps the hot liquid from scrambling the eggs, so the mixture thickens smoothly rather than forming lumps.
“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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