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Dessert

Caramel Charlotte

A gelatin dessert flavored with caramel and vanilla, topped with whipped cream and a ladyfinger.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Caramel Charlotte

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatine

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water until softened.

Make the caramel syrup

  1. Melt the sugar in a pan until it turns to caramel.

  2. Add the boiling water to the caramel and stir to form a syrup.

  3. Pour the syrup over the softened gelatine and mix well.

Assemble the charlotte

  1. Fold in the whipped cream gently.

  2. Spoon the mixture into a mold lined with the ladyfinger.

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. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Vanilla and sugar 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 mixture so the charlotte holds its shape when chilled.
Granulated sugar
Caramelizes to give a deep, bittersweet flavour and colour to the mixture.
Whipped cream
Adds air and lightness, giving the set mixture a soft, creamy texture.
Ladyfinger
Forms the outer structure that lines the mold and holds the filling.

The step that matters

Add the boiling water to the caramel. Caramel is extremely hot and can seize or spatter when water is added. Pouring slowly and stirring steadily lets the caramel dissolve into a smooth syrup instead of hardening into lumps.

“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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