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Dessert

Almond Charlotte Russe

A baked almond and chocolate Charlotte filled with whipped cream and candied cherries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,733 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Almond 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.

Make the batter

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

  2. Beat the yolks of the eggs until thick and light colored.

  3. Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix well.

  4. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

  5. Add the grated chocolate, chopped almonds, cracker crumbs, and baking powder; mix until combined.

Bake and fill

  1. Pour the batter into buttered gem tins and bake for about 25 minutes.

  2. Once baked, cut out the center of each cake and fill with whipped cream.

  3. Decorate the whipped cream with candied cherries.

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. Chocolate + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped whites lighten the batter and give the cakes their airy, risen structure.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and dissolves smoothly into the beaten yolks.
Grated chocolate
Adds richness, flavor and a dark color to the batter.
Blanched almonds
Contribute nutty flavor and a tender, slightly moist crumb.
Cracker crumbs
Add body to the batter, helping it set into a sliceable cake.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the oven, helping the cakes rise and become light.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Egg white foam holds the air that makes the cakes light. Stirring vigorously knocks out that air, so the cakes bake up dense and flat.

Swap the almond

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, chocolate, cream. 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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