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Dessert

Another Charlotte Russe

A chilled gelatin-based dessert made with whipped cream, milk, and vanilla, layered in ladyfingers or sponge cake.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Another Charlotte Russe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard base

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold milk for 2 hours.

  2. Boil the milk.

  3. Gradually pour the boiled milk over the dissolved gelatine.

  4. Strain the mixture.

Add the cream and flavor

  1. Whip the cream in a large bowl until stiff and set on ice.

  2. Fold in the whipped cream a spoonful at a time.

  3. Sweeten the mixture with powdered sugar.

  4. Flavor the mixture with vanilla extract.

Line, fill and set

  1. Line a dish with lady-fingers or sponge cake.

  2. Pour the cream mixture into the lined dish.

  3. Set the dish in a cool place to harden.

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

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

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 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. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

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 liquid cream mixture into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
Rich cream
Whipped to air, it gives the dessert a light, creamy texture and richness.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that dissolves the gelatine and carries the flavor.
Lady-fingers or sponge cake
Forms the lining that holds the set cream and gives a soft, absorbent contrast.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped cream a spoonful at a time. Adding cold whipped cream all at once can deflate its trapped air and cause lumps. Gradual folding, with the gelatine mixture not yet setting, keeps the mousse-like lightness even.

“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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