Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Charlotte De Pommes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the mould
Cut the sandwich loaf into quarter‑inch thick slices and then into strips about 1.5 inches wide.
Grease the inside of the charlotte mould with clarified butter.
Assemble
Dip the shorter pieces of bread into cool oiled butter and arrange them in a circle at the bottom of the mould, allowing them to overlap.
Arrange the long strips in a similar fashion against the sides of the mould, also overlapping.
Fill the mould with a stiff apple puree flavored with sugar, lemon, and ground cinnamon, adding cake crumbs if desired.
Trim off any overlapping bread strips at the edge of the mould.
Bake and serve
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 40 minutes.
Turn out onto a hot dish and pour hot fruit syrup around the base.
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.
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Sandwich loaf
- Forms the golden bread shell that holds the apple filling in shape.
- Apple puree
- Provides the moist, stiff filling that sets as the charlotte bakes.
- Clarified butter
- Greases the mould and helps the bread brown and release cleanly.
- Cool oiled butter
- Fat coating on the bread that encourages browning and crispness in the oven.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the apples and lemon.
The step that matters
Overlapping the bread lining. Bread that is not fully coated in butter and overlapped tightly can leave gaps where the hot, moist filling leaks or the shell collapses. Stale, well-buttered bread bakes into a firm, sealed case.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, apple, sugar, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Pearfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, apple, sugar, cinnamon. 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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