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 ↓
Apple Charlotte
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the apple filling
In a stewpan, combine apples, sugar, butter, lemon peel, cinnamon, and water.
Cover and boil on high heat until apples are melted.
Remove the lid and stir the mixture over high heat until it thickens.
Line and fill the mold
Line the bottom of a round charlotte mold with buttered bread slices, overlapping them.
Cut buttered bread into oblong squares and line the sides of the mold, overlapping them.
Fill the mold with the apple marmalade and cover with a buttered bread slice.
Bake and serve
Place the mold on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F (200°C) until lightly colored.
Turn the charlotte out onto a dish, glaze with sifted sugar, and serve with diluted apricot jam 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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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 + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,790 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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
- Apples
- Break down into a thick marmalade that forms the soft, sweet body of the charlotte.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps it thicken and brown as it cooks down.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the bread brown and crisp in the oven.
- Stale bread
- Forms the golden outer shell that holds the apple filling in shape.
The step that matters
Thickening the apple marmalade. The filling must be stirred over high heat until thick, because excess liquid would soften the bread shell and make the charlotte collapse when turned out.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, butter, cinnamon, bread):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Pearfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, butter, cinnamon, bread. 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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