Skip to main content
Dessert

Angel Charlotte Russe

A gelatin-based dessert made with sugar, cream, macaroons, marshmallows, cherries, almonds, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Angel Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Soak the gelatine in the cold water for 10 minutes.

  2. Dissolve the gelatine in the boiling water.

  3. Add the sugar and stir well.

  4. When nearly cold, add all the ingredients except the whipped cream.

Fold, mold and set

  1. Whip the cream until stiff and fold it in just before the mixture begins to set.

  2. Pour the mixture into a border mold lined with lady-fingers.

  3. Set the mold on ice to harden.

  4. Do not unmold until ready to 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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

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

Gelatine
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when unmolded.
Cream
Adds airy richness and lightness when whipped and folded in.
Macaroons
Provide body and a crumbly, almond-sweet texture to the filling.
Marshmallows
Add sweetness and a soft, chewy texture that blends into the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps give it a smooth body.
Blanched almonds
Add crunch and nutty flavour to the filling.

The step that matters

Fold in the whipped cream just before setting. If the gelatine mixture is too warm, the cream deflates and loses its air; if it has already set, the cream will not blend evenly. Timing keeps the filling light and uniform.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, vanilla):

  1. Chestnutfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Hazelnutfits about as well
  4. Pistachiofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, vanilla. 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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesAlmond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipes