Skip to main content
Dessert

Charlotte Russe

A layered sponge cake with whipped cream and a sweet wine mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the sponge

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, beat the eggs with salt and sugar until light.

  3. Gradually add the flour, lemon juice, cream of tartar, and baking soda mixture.

  4. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Make the cream filling

  1. In another bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.

  2. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, beaten egg whites, wine, vanilla, and dissolved gelatin.

  3. Fold the whipped cream into the egg mixture gently.

Assemble

  1. Once the cake is cool, layer it with the cream mixture.

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

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

  4. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,157 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 and beaten eggs give the sponge its light, airy structure.
All-purpose flour
Flour forms the set structure of the cake crumb once baked.
Heavy cream
Whipped cream adds lightness and a soft, creamy texture to the filling.
Egg whites
Beaten whites trap air, lightening the filling's texture.
Gelatin
Gelatin sets the cream mixture so it holds its shape when layered.
Cream of tartar
Cream of tartar stabilises the beaten egg mixture and helps it rise.

The step that matters

Fold the whipped cream into the egg mixture gently. Folding keeps the air trapped in the whipped cream and egg whites. Vigorous stirring deflates the foam, leaving a denser, less light filling.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour, cream, milk, wine, 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.

More charlotte russe recipes

Pineapple 6Chocolate 5 See all 408 →

You might also like

Lemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesLemon SherbetLemon Sherbet103 recipes