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Dessert

Cherry Charlotte

A chilled dessert made with gelatin, milk, eggs, powdered sugar, whipped cream, and cherries or vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cherry Charlotte

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Soak the gelatine in ½ cup of milk.

  2. Beat the yolks of 5 eggs with ¾ lb. of powdered sugar.

  3. Add ½ cup of milk and cook until it begins to thicken.

  4. Remove from heat and add the soaked gelatine, then strain into a large pan.

  5. Place the pan where it will set quickly.

Set and serve

  1. When it begins to set, fold in the beaten egg whites and ½ pint of whipped cream.

  2. Add ½ cup of cherries or vanilla.

  3. Serve with additional 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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

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

Gelatine
Sets the mixture so the charlotte holds its shape when chilled.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they cook.
Egg whites
Beaten and folded in, they give the set dessert a light, airy texture.
Whipped cream
Adds moisture and lightness, making the filling soft and creamy.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the custard and dissolves smoothly into the yolks.

The step that matters

Cook the custard until it just begins to thicken. Overcooked egg yolks can curdle and turn grainy, while undercooked custard will not thicken enough to support the set dessert. Gentle heat and close attention keep the texture smooth.

“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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