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Chocolate Charlotte Russe

A chilled chocolate custard dessert set in sponge cake-lined molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Chocolate Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water.

  2. Melt the chocolate in a saucepan with the cream and soaked gelatine over low heat.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool.

Make the mousse

  1. Beat the egg yolks and egg whites until light and fluffy.

  2. Gradually stir the eggs into the chocolate mixture along with the sugar.

  3. Simmer the mixture over low heat without boiling, then whip until frothy.

  4. Line the molds with sponge cake and pour the mixture in.

  5. 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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

  3. Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Chocolate + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,448 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the liquid chocolate cream into a firm, sliceable structure as it chills.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and, with the cream, a rich, dense body.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, giving the set dessert a smooth, soft texture.
Egg yolks
Enrich the mixture and add richness and body as they thicken gently with heat.
Egg whites
Whipped into foam, they add lightness and airiness to the mousse.
Sugar
Sweetens the dessert and helps balance the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Simmer without boiling. Gentle heat lets the egg yolks thicken the mixture without scrambling them. Boiling would curdle the eggs and leave a grainy texture.

“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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