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Dessert

Economical Charlotte Russe

A chilled custard dessert with cake pieces and chocolate cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Economical Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Make a quart of nicely flavored mock custard.

  2. Put the custard into a large glass fruit dish, which is partly filled with stale cake cut into small pieces about an inch square.

  3. Stir the custard a little.

  4. Beat the whites of two or more eggs stiff, sweetened with white sugar.

  5. Spread the beaten egg whites over the top of the custard.

  6. Set the dish in a refrigerator to become cold.

Make the chocolate cream

  1. Take a pint and a half of milk and set it on the stove to boil.

  2. Mix together in a bowl the following: large half cup of sugar, one moderately heaped teaspoonful of cornstarch, two tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate, one egg, a small half cup of milk, and a pinch of salt.

  3. Pour the mixture into the boiling milk, remove to top of the stove and let simmer a minute or two.

  4. When the cream is cold, pour it over the cake just before setting it on the table.

  5. Serve in saucers.

Notes

  1. If you do not have plenty of eggs, you can use all cornstarch, about two heaping teaspoonfuls; but be careful and not get the cream too thick, and have it free from lumps.

  2. The cream should be flavored either with vanilla or lemon extract.

  3. Nutmeg might answer.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

886Calories
29 gProtein
23 gFat
137 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Chocolate + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Sugar and milk 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
Whites are beaten stiff to form a light topping, and the yolk-and-egg mixture thickens the chocolate cream.
Cornstarch
Thickens the chocolate cream so it holds body when simmered in the milk.
Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and color of the cream.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the chocolate cream.
Sugar
Sweetens the chocolate cream and the beaten egg whites.
Stale cake (in the method)
Soaks up custard and gives the dish a soft, absorbent base.

The step that matters

Simmering the chocolate cream without lumps or over-thickening. Cornstarch swells and gelatinizes when heated in liquid, so it can clump if not mixed smoothly, or become too thick if overused. Adding the mixture to boiling milk and simmering only briefly keeps the cream smooth and pourable.

“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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