Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Charlotte De Cerises
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a fairly hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the cherries
Stone the cherries and place them in a saucepan with a little water.
Add the sugar, grated rind of half a lemon, cinnamon, and 2 oz of butter.
Steam gently until the cherries are tender, shaking the pan occasionally.
Prepare the cake
If using Genoise cake, cut it into neat slices and bake both sides until golden.
Assemble and bake
Line a well-buttered charlotte mold with the baked biscuits or zwiebacks, dipping each piece in oiled butter.
Fill the mold alternately with the baked biscuits and cherries, packing them tightly.
Sprinkle a little oiled butter over the top and bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).
Serve
Serve with kirsch syrup.
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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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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Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Cooking cherries
- Provide the main fruit, softening as they steam into a tender filling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, coating the biscuits and keeping the mold from drying out.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cherries and helps form a syrupy juice as they cook.
- Genoise cake or german zwieback
- Forms the structure of the charlotte, soaking up juices while holding its shape.
The step that matters
Packing the mold tightly. Loose packing leaves air gaps that collapse or weep during baking, so the charlotte may not hold its shape when turned out. Tight layers of cake and fruit give a firm, sliceable result.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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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