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Dessert

Chocolate Charlotte

A chilled chocolate dessert made with milk, gelatin, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and chocolate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Chocolate Charlotte

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate custard

  1. Soak the gelatine in 1 cup of milk.

  2. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler.

  3. Heat the remaining milk in a double boiler.

  4. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together, then add the melted chocolate.

  5. Add the soaked gelatine to the scalded milk and stir until dissolved.

  6. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the egg yolk and chocolate mixture, stirring constantly.

  7. Return the mixture to the double boiler and stir until it almost boils.

Finish and serve

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites.

  2. Serve cold with sweetened whipped 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. 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. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Chocolate + sugartop 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).

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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and whites lighten it when folded in.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid custard so it holds its shape when cold.
Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and colour of the custard.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps stabilise the egg yolks.

The step that matters

Returning the mixture to the double boiler. Egg yolks thicken as they heat but can curdle if overheated. Stir gently and stop when the mixture almost boils, so the custard thickens smoothly.

“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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