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Dessert

Economical Charlotte Russe

A custard-based dessert with stale cake pieces and a chocolate cream topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Economical Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Assemble the base

  1. Prepare a quart of mock custard and pour it into a large glass fruit dish filled with stale cake pieces.

  2. Gently stir the mixture.

  3. Beat the egg whites until stiff, sweetening with sugar.

  4. Spread the beaten egg whites over the top and refrigerate until cold.

Make the cream

  1. To make the cream, boil 1½ cups of milk.

  2. In a bowl, mix ½ cup sugar, 1 heaping teaspoon cornstarch, 2 tablespoons grated chocolate, 1 egg, ½ cup milk, and a pinch of salt.

  3. Pour this mixture into the boiling milk and simmer for 1-2 minutes.

  4. Once the cream is cold, pour it over the cake just before serving.

Serve

  1. Serve in saucers and flavor with vanilla or lemon extract.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  4. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, 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

Stale cake
Forms the absorbent base that soaks up the custard and holds the dish together.
Egg whites
Beaten until stiff, they form a light foam that tops the dish and adds airy texture.
Egg
Thickens the chocolate cream when it is heated with the milk and cornstarch.
Cornstarch
Thickens the cream as it simmers, giving it a smooth, spoonable body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the cream, adding moisture and richness.

The step that matters

Simmering the chocolate cream. Egg and cornstarch can curdle or form lumps if added to very hot milk too quickly or cooked too hard. Whisking the mixture into the boiling milk and simmering gently keeps the cream smooth and thickened.

“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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