Why it works: Coconut and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,294 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Charlotte Parisienne
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Soak the gelatine in a little cold water for 1 to 2 hours.
Chill 1 pint of cream and whip it; set aside on ice.
Bring the remaining pint of cream to a boil in a saucepan.
Beat the eggs and sugar together until well mixed.
Make the custard
Pour a little hot cream onto the egg mixture, stirring briskly, then return it to the saucepan.
Stir constantly for about 1 minute until it thickens, but do not let it boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the soaked gelatine.
Strain into a bowl and add the crushed macaroons, lady-fingers, coconut, and vanilla.
Let it cool until just beginning to set, then place the bowl in a pan of cracked ice and stir until smooth and thick.
Gently fold in the whipped cream with as few strokes as possible.
Set and serve
Rinse a mold with cold water and fill it with the mixture.
Set aside on ice until firm.
To serve, turn out onto a plate and serve immediately, or hollow out a stale round sponge cake, fill it with the mixture, and let it harden.
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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Coconut + vanillatop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,294 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Coconut + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,223 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
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard as they cook gently, giving the charlotte its body and richness.
- Gelatine
- Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when turned out of the mold.
- Cream
- Adds richness and, when whipped, lightness that keeps the set mousse-like texture airy.
- Lady-fingers
- Soak up custard and add bulk and structure to the charlotte.
- Macaroons
- Add body, sweetness and a chewy almond-like texture to the custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the eggs and cream.
The step that matters
Do not let the custard boil. Egg yolks and whole eggs thicken as they heat, but above about 80°C they scramble and curdle, leaving a grainy custard. Stirring constantly over gentle heat keeps it smooth.
Swap the coconut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, sugar, vanilla):
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, sugar, 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.
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