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Dessert

A Tipsy Charlotte

A chilled sponge cake filled with whipped cream flavored with sherry and served with a custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓

A Tipsy Charlotte

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cream filling

  1. Heat the cream almost to boiling.

  2. Add the soaked gelatine and 1/2 cup of sugar, stirring until dissolved.

  3. Remove from heat, add flavoring, and let cool before beating or churning to a stiff froth.

Assemble the charlotte

  1. Cut off the top of the sponge cake in one piece and scoop out the middle, leaving 3/4 inch thick sides and bottom.

  2. Pour the sherry wine in spoonfuls over the inside of the cake to moisten it evenly.

  3. Fill the cake with the whipped cream, replace the top (moistened with wine), and refrigerate until needed.

Serve

  1. Serve with a custard made from the eggs, milk, and remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.

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 + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sherry + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

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

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  5. Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

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

Sponge cake
Forms the edible shell that holds the filling and soaks up the wine.
Rich sweet cream
Whipped into a stiff froth to give the filling its light, airy structure.
Gelatine
Sets the cream so the filling holds its shape when chilled and sliced.
Sherry wine
Moistens the sponge cake and adds aroma and flavor.
Eggs
Thicken the milk into a custard that is served alongside the cake.

The step that matters

Whipping the cream after adding the gelatine. The cream must cool before beating, because gelatine that is still hot or setting unevenly can prevent the cream from whipping to a stiff, stable froth.

“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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