Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Charlotte Russe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mould
Line a round mould with finger biscuits, placing them close together.
Make the filling
Whisk the cream with sugar and dissolved gelatin in a little water.
Mix in the fruit jam and set to freeze.
Set and serve
Cover with a piece of Savoy cake shaped to fit the mould.
Freeze until sufficiently firm, about 1 hour.
Turn out and serve.
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + biscuittop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,235 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Sugar + biscuittop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,874 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Apple + biscuittop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together260 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Sugar + appletop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and apple barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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
- Heavy cream
- Whipped into the filling, it gives the dessert its light, rich body.
- Gelatine
- Sets the cream filling so it holds its shape when turned out.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and softens the dairy flavour of the filling.
- Fruit jam
- Adds fruity sweetness and flavour to the cream filling.
- Savoy cake
- Forms a base layer that gives the dessert structure and soaks up moisture.
- Finger biscuits
- Line the mould to form the outer shell that holds the filling.
The step that matters
Whisk the cream with the dissolved gelatine. Gelatine must be fully dissolved and mixed in evenly while the cream is still loose. If it cools or clumps before blending, it will set unevenly and the dessert may not hold its shape when turned out.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, biscuit):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, biscuit. 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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