Why it works: Raspberry and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 950 recipes. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells fruity, sweet. The science ↓
Charlotte Russe a LA Moreton
Ingredients
Directions
Assemble
Line the bottom of a round tin with a round of sponge cake.
Coat the inner sides with raspberry jam and fill with a semi-liquid blancmange or cream mixture.
Add a layer of ratafias and jam, then another layer of cream of a different color and flavor.
Repeat the layering with different jams and creams, finishing with pink vanilla on top.
Set and serve
Chill until set, then turn out to serve.
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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Raspberry + vanillatop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together950 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).
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Vanilla + coffeetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,391 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Raspberry + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,332 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + coffeetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Cream and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,301 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
- Sponge cake
- Forms a firm base and lining that holds the soft creams in shape.
- Ratafias
- Adds a crisp, almond-like texture between the soft cream layers.
- Raspberry jam
- Adds sweetness and fruit flavor, and helps the cake lining stick to the tin.
- Semi-liquid blancmange or cream mixture
- Sets when chilled to give the body of the dessert a soft, sliceable structure.
The step that matters
Chill until set before turning out. The creams rely on gelatin or starch setting as they chill. Turning out too early can cause the layers to slump or break apart, so they need to be fully firm.
Swap the raspberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, vanilla, coffee):
- Strawberryfits better
- Bananafits about as well
- Coconutfits about as well
- Raspberrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, vanilla, coffee. 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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