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Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A chilled dessert of custard, whipped cream, and ladyfingers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cream

  1. Soak the gelatine in water.

  2. Whip the cream with the beaten egg until stiff.

  3. Add half of the sweetened gelatine to the whipped cream, then set aside.

Make the custard

  1. Boil the milk.

  2. Beat the egg yolks, sugar, and corn starch together in a bowl.

  3. Add the egg mixture to the boiling milk and stir to make a custard.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Pour over half the gelatine.

  6. Set aside to congeal.

Assemble

  1. Line a bowl with lady fingers.

  2. Pour in the custard.

  3. Top with the cream.

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

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

  2. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Sugar and milk 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

Gelatine
Sets the whipped cream and custard so the dessert holds its shape when cold.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they cook with the milk.
Cream
Whipped to a light, airy topping that adds moisture and a smooth texture.
Corn starch
Thickens the custard so it sets to a smooth, sliceable consistency.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that the yolks and starch thicken.
Lady fingers
Form the sponge-like structure that holds the custard and cream layers.

The step that matters

Add the egg mixture to the boiling milk. Egg yolks can scramble or curdle if they meet very hot liquid too abruptly. Stirring steadily while pouring keeps the custard smooth, and the yolks and starch then thicken it evenly as it cooks.

“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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