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Dessert

Charlotte De Russe

A chilled custard dessert made with cream, gelatin, egg whites, and sponge cake.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓

Charlotte De Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Soak the gelatin in a little cold water, then heat it on the stove, stirring until it melts. Allow it to cool without congealing.

  2. Sweeten and flavor the cream to taste, then beat it to stiff peaks.

  3. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites and the cooled gelatin into the whipped cream.

Line the moulds

  1. Prepare the sponge cake to line the moulds.

  2. Scald the moulds and cool them thoroughly.

  3. Before using, pour out any cold water from the moulds without wiping them.

  4. Arrange the sponge cake in the moulds and set aside to congeal.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Cream
Whipped to stiff peaks, it traps air and gives the dessert its light, rich body.
Egg whites
Beaten into a foam, they add airy structure that helps the dessert hold its shape.
Gelatine
As it sets, it firms the cream so the dessert holds its shape when unmolded.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and balances the richness of the whipped filling.
Sponge cake
Lines the moulds, forming a soft outer layer that supports the set filling.

The step that matters

Folding the egg whites and cooled gelatin into the cream. Gelatin added while still hot can deflate the whipped cream or set in strands, so it must be cooled but still liquid. Gentle folding keeps the air in the foam, which gives the set dessert its light texture.

“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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