{"id":333624,"date":"2026-08-31T06:32:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T06:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/333624\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T06:32:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T06:32:25","slug":"new-york-city-boomers-will-remember-this-street-dessert-well-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/333624\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Boomers Will Remember This Street Dessert Well"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Proust’s madeleine to retro ’90s Jell-O Pudding Pops<\/a>, almost everyone has a nostalgic dessert. For many baby boomers who grew up in New York City in the mid-20th century, the sweet treat that instantly brings them back to childhood is the Charlotte Russe. Younger folks and non-New Yorkers would be forgiven for primarily associating the name Charlotte Russe with the mall clothing store\u00a0(which, by the way, was named after the dessert). But for\u00a0NYC-raised boomers, it has only one definition: a sponge cake-based street snack crowned with a precarious mountain of whipped cream and a maraschino cherry, served in an iconic push-up cup for the eye-popping price of one nickel.<\/p>\n

The Charlotte Russe was a seasonal staple, available during the cooler months at local NYC bakeries<\/a>, candy shops, and convenience stores across the Big Apple. It might be filled with a thin layer of jam or topped with sprinkles, but the maraschino-topped whipped cream spiraling up from the paper packaging never changed. Perhaps even more than the sweet, creamy taste, kids adored its push-up format, which, much like an ice cream cone, absolutely required licking and inspired delightful debates over optimal eating technique.<\/p>\n

Read more: 12 Boomer Cooking Habits People Are Ready To Ditch, According To Reddit<\/a><\/p>\n

The history of the Charlotte Russe\"Charlotte<\/p>\n

Buttah_bakery \/ Instagram<\/p>\n

The Charlotte Russe probably originated in 18th-century\u00a0France,\u00a0though the exact roots\u00a0of its name are unclear. “Charlotte”\u00a0may have been an homage to Queen Charlotte (wife of George III of England) or to\u00a0Princess Charlotte of Wales (daughter of King George IV), and “Russe” could have been a nod to Russian Tsar Alexander I. European Charlotte Russes were larger and more elaborate than the individually portioned New York City street snacks, often made with ladyfinger cookies, Bavarian cream, and fresh fruit adornments \u2014 French chef Marie-Antoine Car\u00eame is widely credited as the creator.<\/p>\n

The simpler, push-up cup NYC version was probably brought to the city by European immigrants at some point in the 19th century. This American take on the Charlotte Russe became a well-loved street food\u00a0and enjoyed widespread popularity throughout most of the 20th century, especially among children in the Bronx and Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Food trends inevitably change over time, and the Charlotte Russe had largely disappeared by the late 1970s (by which time prices had crept up to nearly $0.60). Luckily for boomers with sweet childhood memories of licking Charlotte Russes on the city streets, the kid-friendly dessert can still be found in the pastry case at Holtermann’s on Staten Island, one of the oldest U.S. bakeries still serving treats<\/a>. The Holtermann’s version is made the traditional way, with fluffy sponge cake, a thin layer of jam, a small mountain of whipped cream, and the classic paper cup. At the time of writing, it will set you back nearly $2 (which is still a pretty sweet deal).<\/p>\n

For more food and drink goodness, join The Takeout’s newsletter<\/a> and add us as a preferred search source<\/a>. Get taste tests, food & drink news, deals from your favorite chains, recipes, cooking tips, and more!<\/p>\n

Read the original article on The Takeout<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Proust’s madeleine to retro ’90s Jell-O Pudding Pops, almost everyone has a nostalgic dessert. For many baby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[125447,125449,71824,125450,85949,125452,125451,9,24,55,54,56,125448],"class_list":["post-333624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-charlotte-russe","tag-charlotte-russes","tag-european","tag-felix-mizioznikov-shutterstock","tag-george-iii","tag-george-iv","tag-holtermanns","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-the-charlotte-russe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}