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Dessert

Charlotte Bxjsse

A chilled dessert made with gelatin, milk, eggs, cream, wine, and ladyfingers or sponge cake.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 Bxjsse

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Simmer the gelatine in the milk until dissolved.

  2. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until combined.

  3. Stir the dissolved gelatine into the egg yolk mixture.

Whip and fold

  1. Whip the egg whites to a strong froth.

  2. Whip the thick cream and white wine to a strong froth.

  3. Gently fold in the whipped egg whites and whipped cream.

Set and serve

  1. Line a mould with lady-fingers or split sponge cake.

  2. Pour the mixture into the lined mould and set it on ice.

  3. Let it stand for about five hours until thickened.

  4. Turn it out onto a dish to serve.

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

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

  2. Cream + white winetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,760 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  3. Milk + white winetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together929 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

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

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

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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 it holds its shape when turned out.
Egg yolks
Enrich the mixture and add richness and body.
Egg whites
Whipped to foam, they lighten the mixture and add airy structure.
Thick cream
Whipped, it adds volume, richness and a soft texture.
Milk
Liquid that dissolves the gelatine and carries it into the custard.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the whipped egg whites and whipped cream.. Whipped foams trap air that gives the dessert its lightness. Stirring vigorously knocks that air out, leaving a dense result after setting.

“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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