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Dessert

Charlotte Polonaise

A layered sponge cake dessert with chocolate and almond creams, topped with whipped sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Arrowroot and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 179 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Charlotte Polonaise

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard

  1. Boil the milk (or cream) over low heat.

  2. Beat the egg yolks with the arrowroot (or flour) in a bowl.

  3. Gradually stir the egg mixture into the boiling milk, ensuring it is smooth.

  4. Simmer for 10 minutes.

  5. Divide the mixture into two saucepans.

Make the two creams

  1. In one saucepan, add the grated chocolate and 2 ounces of powdered sugar.

  2. Simmer the chocolate mixture for a few minutes.

  3. Cool the chocolate mixture.

  4. In the other saucepan, mix the pounded almonds with enough rosewater to form a paste.

  5. Add the chopped citron and 4 ounces of powdered sugar to the almond paste.

  6. Simmer the almond mixture briefly.

  7. Cool the almond mixture.

  8. Add vanilla to taste.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer the sponge cake slices on a china dish, alternating between the chocolate cream and almond cream.

  2. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  3. Gradually mix in 6 ounces of powdered sugar.

  4. Spread the whipped mixture over the cake.

  5. Sift sugar over the top and sides.

  6. Bake in a slow oven (300°F / 150°C) until light brown.

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. Arrowroot + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together179 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Arrowroot + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together242 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the milk into a smooth custard that sets the chocolate and almond creams.
Arrowroot
Thickens the custard base so it holds its body when cooled.
Grated chocolate
Gives the chocolate cream its flavor and deep color.
Sweet almonds
Provide body, nutty flavor and richness to the almond cream.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they form the light topping that browns in the oven.
Sponge cake
Provides a soft, absorbent base that holds the creams between layers.

The step that matters

Cool the custards before layering. Hot cream would melt the whipped egg white topping and soften the sponge, so each cream must be fully cooled first.

Swap the arrowroot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, chocolate, sugar, almond, vanilla):

  1. Arrowrootthe original
  2. Sweet potatofits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits less well
  4. Beetrootfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, chocolate, sugar, almond, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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