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Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A chilled dessert made with isinglass jelly, egg yolks, whipped cream, and sponge cake.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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

Make the jelly

  1. Soak isinglass in 1 quart of water with vanilla.

  2. Boil the mixture until reduced to 1 pint.

  3. Strain the mixture through a sieve.

  4. Beat the egg yolks and egg white.

  5. Stir the beaten eggs into the hot jelly.

  6. Sweeten to taste.

  7. Let the mixture cool.

Assemble and set

  1. Whip the cream until frothy.

  2. Drain the whipped cream through a sieve.

  3. Fold the whipped cream into the cold jelly.

  4. Butter the molds.

  5. Line the molds with sponge cake, cutting it to fit closely.

  6. Pour the frothy mixture into the molds.

  7. Chill for 3 hours.

Unmold

  1. Dip a cloth in hot water.

  2. Wipe the outside of the mold with the cloth.

  3. Invert the mold onto a dish.

  4. Carefully remove the dessert from the mold.

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

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

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 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. Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the jelly so the dessert holds its shape when unmolded.
3 pints cream
Whipped into foam to give the dessert a light, airy, creamy texture.
Egg yolks
Enrich the jelly with richness and help give it a smooth, custard-like body.
Sponge cake
Lines the mold to form a soft outer shell that holds the filling together.

The step that matters

Fold the whipped cream into the cold jelly. If the jelly is still warm, it melts the whipped cream and the foam collapses, so the filling loses its airy texture. Letting it cool first keeps the air trapped and the mixture set evenly.

“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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