Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Charlotte Russe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cake
Prepare a sponge cake using 4 eggs and ⅔ cup sugar in a brick‑shaped cake pan about 4 inches deep.
Once the cake is done, turn it out onto a sieve to cool.
When cool, place the cake bottom up in a clean pan of the same size and shape.
Slice the cake crosswise, removing every alternate slice without leaving crumbs.
Make the cream filling
Chill 1½ pints of heavy cream on ice until very cold.
Soak ¼ box of gelatin in ½ cup cold milk.
Whip the cream to a solid froth.
Dissolve the soaked gelatin in boiling milk and let it cool.
Combine the whipped cream, gelatin mixture, 2 cups sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla, and a pinch of salt, stirring constantly from the bottom to avoid clots.
Assemble and serve
Fill the gaps with the cream mixture, carefully spooning it in to keep the slices upright.
Fill to the top and set on ice for about 6 hours if the weather is hot.
Serve in slices, and use any odd slices to fill another pan.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,628 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,778 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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
- Eggs
- Whipped into the sponge cake, giving it a light, airy structure.
- Heavy cream
- Whipped into a froth that gives the filling its light, creamy body.
- Gelatin
- Sets the cream filling so it holds its shape when chilled and sliced.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sponge cake and the cream filling.
The step that matters
Stirring the gelatin into the whipped cream. Gelatin added to cold cream can set in lumps, so it must be dissolved and cooled first and stirred constantly from the bottom so the mixture stays smooth and evenly set.
“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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