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Dessert

Charlotte De Gaufrettes

A chilled dessert of wafer-lined charlotte with whipped cream filling and pastry crust, topped with cherries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Charlotte De Gaufrettes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mould

  1. Line the sides of a charlotte mould with the wafers, using a little royal icing to fit them closely.

Make the cream filling

  1. Heat the milk and dissolve the gelatine in it.

  2. Whip the cream, then add ½ oz. of sugar and the vanilla essence.

  3. Strain the milk and gelatine mixture into the whipped cream, stirring until it begins to cool and thicken.

  4. Pour the mixture into the mould, taking care not to disturb the wafers.

  5. Place the mould in a cool place to set.

Bake the crust and serve

  1. Prepare a paste with the flour, butter, 2 oz. sugar, egg, and almonds.

  2. Roll out the paste and cut a round the size of the charlotte mould, then bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) and let cool.

  3. Place the crust on a dish, unmould the charlotte onto the paste crust, pour some whipped cream on top, and decorate with strawberries or glace cherries.

  4. Tie with a small ribbon and serve.

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. Vanilla + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cigarette wafers
Form the outer shell that holds the charlotte's shape when unmoulded.
Gelatine
Sets the milk and cream mixture so it holds its shape when unmoulded.
Cream
Whipped to give the filling a light, airy, creamy texture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the paste, giving a tender crust.
Egg
Binds the paste and adds structure as it bakes.
Flour
Provides the structure of the paste that becomes the crust.

The step that matters

Straining and cooling the gelatine mixture into the cream. Gelatine must be fully dissolved and the mixture only partly cooled and thickened before pouring. If it is too hot, it thins the cream and loses its whipped air; if it sets too early, it stays lumpy and will not fill the mould evenly.

“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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