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Dessert

Savoy Charlotte

A layered sponge cake custard dessert topped with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Savoy Charlotte

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.

Prepare the base

  1. Layer slices of sponge cake in the bottom of a deep dish and moisten with wine.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the eggs, then mix them with milk and sugar until combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a pan.

  3. Place the pan in a water bath.

  4. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until thickened.

  5. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Finish and serve

  1. Spread the custard over the sponge cake.

  2. Flavor the cream with wine and white sugar.

  3. Whip the cream until frothy.

  4. Carefully spoon the froth onto the custard.

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

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

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

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

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Wine + milktop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (fenugreek, curry).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
Their proteins set when heated, thickening the milk into a sliceable custard.
Milk
Forms the liquid body of the custard, which sets softly when baked.
Sponge cake
Forms the soft base that absorbs the wine and holds the custard.
Cream
Whipped into an airy froth that gives a light, rich topping.
Wine
Moistens the sponge cake and adds a fruity aroma to the dish.

The step that matters

Baking the custard in a water bath until thickened. Egg proteins set with gentle heat; too much heat makes the custard curdle or weep. The water bath moderates the oven's heat, so the custard sets evenly and stays smooth.

“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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