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Dessert

Economical Charlotte Russe

A custard-based dessert with stale cake, chocolate, and whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Economical Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard base

  1. Prepare a quart of mock custard.

  2. Place the custard in a large glass fruit dish filled with stale cake pieces. Stir the mixture gently. Set aside.

Make the chocolate cream

  1. In a bowl, combine ½ cup sugar, 1 heaping teaspoon cornstarch, 2 tablespoons grated chocolate, 1 egg, ½ cup milk, and a pinch of salt.

  2. Boil 1½ cups milk on the stove. Pour the mixture from the bowl into the boiling milk. Simmer for 1-2 minutes, stirring to avoid lumps.

  3. Once cooled, pour the cream over the cake just before serving.

Top and serve

  1. Whip the egg whites with sugar until stiff. Spread the whipped egg whites over the top.

  2. Chill in the refrigerator until cold. Serve in saucers.

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

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

  4. Sugar + chocolatetop 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).

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

Stale cake
Soaks up the custard and cream, giving the dessert its body and soft structure.
Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that forms the light topping over the dessert.
Egg
Thickens the chocolate cream as it cooks, giving it a smooth, set texture.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture when heated, preventing it from running thin.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and color to the cream.

The step that matters

Simmering the chocolate cream. Stirring constantly while the mixture simmers keeps the egg and cornstarch from clumping. Cornstarch needs heat to thicken fully, and the egg can curdle if it gets too hot too fast.

“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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