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Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A chilled custard dessert set in a sponge cake base, flavored with vanilla and sugar.

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 ↓

Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatine and milk

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water until soft.

  2. In a saucepan, boil the sweet milk and dissolve the gelatine in it.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, beat the sugar and egg yolks together until very light.

  2. Strain the hot milk and gelatine mixture over the egg yolks and sugar.

  3. Whip the cold cream until frothy and fold it into the mixture, then add vanilla for flavor.

Set and serve

  1. Line a serving dish with sponge cake and pour the mixture in.

  2. Chill in the refrigerator until set.

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. Sugar + vanillatop 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. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

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 liquid mixture into a soft, sliceable structure as it chills.
Eggs
The yolks thicken and enrich the custard, giving it body and a smooth texture.
Cream
Whipped, it adds lightness, airiness and richness to the set dessert.
Sweet milk
Forms the liquid base that carries the gelatine and gives a mild, creamy dairy flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the milk, cream and yolks.

The step that matters

Pour the hot milk over the yolks gradually. Hot liquid poured quickly onto egg yolks can scramble them, so add it slowly while whisking. Straining removes any undissolved gelatine, which would otherwise leave lumps and uneven setting.

“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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