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Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A layered cake made with eggs, sugar, flour, lemon, and a whipped cream and gelatin topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and gelatin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the sponge

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, beat the eggs with salt, then add sugar and mix well.

  3. Gradually add flour, lemon juice and zest, cream of tartar, baking soda dissolved in warm milk, and mix until smooth.

  4. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes.

Make the cream filling

  1. In another bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.

  2. In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups sugar, beaten egg whites, wine, vanilla, and dissolved gelatin.

  3. Fold the whipped cream into the egg mixture gently until well combined.

Assemble and set

  1. Once the cake is cool, layer the cream mixture over it and refrigerate until set.

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 + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

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

  5. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Eggs
Whole eggs beaten with sugar trap air and give the sponge its structure.
Egg whites
Beaten whites create foam that lightens the filling and helps it hold its shape.
Flour
Flour forms the gluten network that gives the cake its body once baked.
Heavy cream
Whipped cream adds lightness and moisture to the filling.
Gelatin
Gelatin sets the cream mixture so it holds its shape when chilled.
Baking soda
Baking soda reacts with the acidic cream of tartar and lemon to lift the batter.

The step that matters

Folding the whipped cream into the egg mixture. Folding gently keeps the air in the whipped cream and whites. Vigorous stirring deflates the foam, leaving a dense filling that sets poorly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, flour, cream, wine, vanilla, gelatin):

  1. Strawberryfits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour, cream, wine, vanilla, gelatin. 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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