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Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A layered dessert of lady‑fingers, whipped cream with gelatin, and a biscuit batter, served chilled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Margaret Brown · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mould and cream

  1. Line the charlotte mould with lady-fingers.

  2. Let the mould be dry.

  3. Sweeten the cream to taste.

  4. Flavor the cream with pineapple, lemon, or another flavor.

  5. Dissolve 1/4 box gelatin in a little of the cream.

  6. Whip the cream to a light, stiff froth.

  7. Set an extra pan on ice.

  8. Put all the whipped cream into the pan.

  9. Stir in the gelatin.

  10. Pour the mixture into the mould.

  11. Cover the top with lady-fingers.

  12. Set the mould on ice to cool.

Make the batter

  1. Mix one pint flour with 1/2 yeast cake.

  2. Make a batter overnight with warm milk and set it to rise.

  3. Beat 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon sugar, nutmeg to taste, and 1 tablespoon melted butter.

  4. Stir the mixture and let it rise until time to bake.

  5. Bake the batter in moulds.

  6. Sift a little powdered sugar over the baked batter and serve.

Make the biscuits

  1. Mix one quart flour, 1 tablespoon yeast powder, and 1 tablespoon butter or lard with milk.

  2. Add 1-1/2 teaspoons salt.

  3. Make biscuits quickly.

  4. Bake the biscuits in a hot oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

747Calories
20 gProtein
24 gFat
110 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Cakenot in our table0

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

By Margaret Brown. 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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 a light froth, it forms the airy, rich body of the charlotte filling.
Gelatin
Sets the whipped cream so the filling holds its shape when turned out and sliced.
Lady-fingers
Form the sponge-like shell that lines the mould and holds the filling together.
Eggs
Add richness and structure to the batter as they set during baking.
Yeast cake
Produces gas that makes the batter rise before baking.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the batter and biscuits together as they bake.

The step that matters

Dissolve the gelatin in a little cream before stirring it in. Gelatin sets only when fully dissolved and evenly distributed. Added cold or in lumps, it leaves streaks or soft spots, and the filling may not hold its shape when the charlotte is unmoulded.

“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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