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Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A chilled custard dessert made with gelatin, eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, sherry, and whipped cream, served in ladyfingers or sponge cake.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water.

  2. Beat the eggs, sugar, and milk together.

  3. Cook the mixture in a double boiler until it thickens into custard.

  4. Add the soaked gelatin and stir until dissolved.

  5. Strain the mixture.

  6. Set aside until it begins to thicken.

  7. Add vanilla and sherry.

Finish and assemble

  1. Whip hard.

  2. When it thickens again, gently fold in the whipped heavy cream.

  3. Line cups with lady fingers or sponge cake.

  4. Fill the cups with the mixture.

  5. Garnish with fruits.

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. Vanilla + sherrytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  5. Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

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

Gelatin
Sets the custard so the dessert holds its shape when chilled.
Eggs
Thicken the custard as they cook and add richness and structure.
Heavy cream
Whipped, it adds lightness and a creamy, airy texture to the filling.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing body and mild sweetness.
Lady fingers or sponge cake
Lines the cups, giving the dessert a soft structure to hold the filling.

The step that matters

Fold in the whipped cream at the right thickness. Fold the cream in only when the custard has begun to thicken again. If it is too thin, the cream deflates and the filling loses its airy texture; if it has set too firmly, the cream will not blend 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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