Skip to main content
Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A chilled custard dessert made with isinglass, cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and sponge cake.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dissolve the isinglass in water.

  2. Boil the cream in a saucepan.

  3. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until well combined.

  4. Pour the boiling cream over the sugar mixture while stirring continuously.

  5. Add vanilla extract for flavor.

  6. Stir in the dissolved isinglass.

  7. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the mixture.

Set and chill

  1. Line a mold with sponge cake.

  2. Pour the mixture into the mold once it thickens slightly.

  3. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours 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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  3. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

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

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the cream custard as it chills.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the filling.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and flavor.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the filling and give it an airy texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps stabilize the egg yolk mixture.
Sponge cake
Lines the mold, giving the dessert a soft structural shell.

The step that matters

Folding the egg whites into the mixture. Stiff whites hold air that gives the filling its lightness. Overmixing or beating them too little deflates the foam or leaves streaks, so fold gently until evenly combined.

“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