Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Charlotte Russe No. 1
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mould
Line a large mould with lady fingers or sponge cake slices, leaving ½ inch between each slice.
If desired, pour a few spoons of fruit juice or wine over the cake.
Make the cream filling
Whip the cream, then stir in the sugar and vanilla.
Soak the gelatine in cold water to cover, then dissolve it in boiling water.
Stir the dissolved gelatine into the cream mixture until it begins to thicken.
Pour the mixture into the mould and set in the refrigerator for several hours.
Serve
To serve, loosen the sides, turn out onto a flat dish, and cut into slices.
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.
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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
- Gelatine
- Sets the cream filling so the dessert holds its shape when turned out and sliced.
- Cream
- Provides the rich, light body of the filling once whipped.
- Lady fingers or sponge cake
- Forms the soft outer case that holds the set cream filling.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cream filling and dissolves easily into it.
The step that matters
Stirring the dissolved gelatine into the cream. Gelatine must be fully dissolved and stirred in while the cream is still loose; if it cools too much or clumps, it forms strings or lumps instead of an even set.
“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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