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Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A chilled dessert of whipped cream, raspberry jam, and biscuits arranged in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Raspberry and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 950 recipes. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells fruity, sweet. The science ↓

Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rub the raspberry jam through a sieve.

  2. Dip the ratafia biscuits into the jam, then into the sherry.

  3. Line the sides of a plain Charlotte mould with the dipped biscuits, placing the first row in dry.

Make and set the cream

  1. Whip the cream to stiff peaks, then fold in the sugar, vanilla, and melted gelatine.

  2. Fill the mould with the cream mixture.

  3. Once set, turn out the Charlotte and garnish the top with whipped cream.

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. Raspberry + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together950 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

  2. Sherry + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

  5. Sherry + raspberrytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together109 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 stiff peaks, it forms the light, airy body of the Charlotte.
Gelatine
Sets the whipped cream so the Charlotte holds its shape when turned out.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and balances the sherry and jam flavours.
Raspberry jam
Adds fruit flavour and colour to the biscuits that line the mould.
Sherry
Moistens the biscuits and adds a warm, aromatic note.

The step that matters

Fold in the melted gelatine. Gelatine must be fully melted and added to the cream without clumping, or it will set in streaks. Cream whipped to stiff peaks can deflate if folded too vigorously, so the gelatine should be folded in gently and quickly before it begins to set.

Swap the raspberry

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

  1. Strawberryfits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Pineapplefits about as well
  4. Raspberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, sherry, vanilla. 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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