Skip to main content
Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A gelatin dessert made with milk, eggs, sugar, cream, and flavored with vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Wash the gelatin in cold water.

  2. Dissolve the gelatin in a saucepan with the milk over low heat.

  3. Beat the egg yolks and strain them through a sieve into the milk mixture.

  4. Add the sugar and stir continuously until it thickens like custard.

  5. Remove the custard from heat.

  6. Beat the custard until it begins to stiffen.

Assemble and set

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Fold in the beaten egg whites and heavy cream.

  3. Flavor with vanilla or your choice of seasoning.

  4. Fit the cake to the mold.

  5. Pour the mixture into 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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

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

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

Gelatin
Sets the custard so the charlotte holds its shape when chilled.
Egg yolks
Enrich the custard, adding richness and body as it thickens.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the mixture and add airy volume.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and softness, making the filling creamy and tender.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that the gelatin and yolks set into.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps it thicken smoothly when stirred with the yolks.

The step that matters

Stir the custard over low heat until it thickens. Egg yolks thicken and can scramble if overheated, so the custard must be stirred continuously over gentle heat and removed once it coats a spoon.

“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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipes