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Dessert

Banana Charlotte

A chilled dessert made with banana pulp, whipped cream, gelatin, and Savoy biscuits.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Banana Charlotte

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pass the bananas through a fine sieve to obtain the pulp.

  2. Soak the gelatine in cold water, then stir it over low heat until dissolved.

  3. Prepare the mould as directed in the recipe for Apple Charlotte.

Assemble and set

  1. Mix the banana pulp and whipped cream together lightly, sweeten to taste, and add the dissolved gelatine.

  2. Pour the mixture into the prepared mould.

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. Banana + biscuittop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together51 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Cream + biscuittop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,235 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Sugar + biscuittop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Banana + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,102 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

What each ingredient does

Banana pulp
Provides the main banana flavour and moisture for the filling.
Whipped cream
Adds lightness and a smooth, rich texture to the filling.
Gelatine
Sets the banana and cream mixture so it holds its shape when turned out.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling to taste.

The step that matters

Fully dissolving the gelatine. Gelatine sets only when fully dissolved and evenly spread. Undissolved granules leave rubbery specks, and it should be stirred into the banana and cream while still liquid, before it starts to set, so the charlotte sets evenly.

Swap the banana

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, biscuit):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Bananathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, biscuit. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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