Strawberry Charlotte Russe

We didn’t entertain much during the three years I studied law, but reading recipes provided a needed break from legal treatises and fueled fantasies about when and how I would prepare them. I was a pent-up hostess and when the last semester was ending, I invited friends for dinner I planned in my mind for three years. The menu was ambitious. French-inspired: black olive tapenade on toast with an aperitif, a light salad, blanquette de veau, a creamy veal stew from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking over new parslied potatoes, plenty of wine and a Strawberry Charlotte Russe for dessert. All courses of the dinner were delicious, but there was something special about the eye-catching dessert that lingered in my mind for years afterward.

Last week the farmer’s market finally opened with the easing of quarantine. When I saw the kaleidoscope of colorful vegetables and fruits at their peak, I realized how much I missed shopping outdoors.

Walking with my trusty blue face mask, I was particularly enticed by countless flats of red, fresh-picked strawberries with vibrant green tops, and I envisioned special desserts of the past that deserved repeating – strawberry shortcakes, Haussner’s fresh strawberry pie (see July 2016 post), the foot-tall angel food cake layered with strawberries and whipped cream my mother-in-law prepared for our daughter Sophia’s birthday and bowls of plain sweet berries with cream.

But the dessert I wanted to recreate most of all was that Strawberry Charlotte Russe, a berry and mousse-filled, sponge and ladyfinger confection that I prepared to celebrate that law school graduation.

What appealed to me about this charlotte was not just its stunning appearance but its assembly in simple steps over several days, and that some of the ingredients could be purchased. I lost the original recipe for the strawberry charlotte russe over the years, but I remembered the components and embarked on recreating them. So, I bought four pounds (1.8 k) of strawberries, some to eat with a few spoons of cream and others to use in the strawberry charlotte russe and other desserts.

Charlotte russe is a classic French molded dessert that culinary historians attribute to Marie-Antoine Carême (1784-1833), the French chef at the Russian royal court. The cake was named “russe” in honor of Carême’s employer Russian Czar Nicholas I, but origin of the name “charlotte” is uncertain. Historians speculate that Carême named this cake after the Czar’s sister-in-law, Charlotte of Prussia or after Queen Charlotte, wife of England’s King George III.

Charlottes may be served cold or hot. Cold charlottes are prepared in a mold lined with ladyfingers with a silky filling of fruit purée and heavy cream set with gelatin. Hot charlottes are formed with buttered bread and contain a cooked fruit filling such as apples.

After its creation in the 18^th Century, charlottes became popular throughout Europe and came to the US with immigrants in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries in different guises, from simple to elaborate. Initially, charlottes were chef-prepared desserts but the discovery of granulating gelatin into powder in the mid-19th century and availability of home refrigeration after 1913 simplified and popularized preparation of gelled-desserts.

My fresh strawberry charlotte russe was formed in a mold lined with ladyfingers and sponge cake, filled with strawberry mousse and strawberry gelée, topped with more berries and a glaze and chilled thoroughly. It sounds complicated but isn’t. This strawberry charlotte russe recipe involves several simple steps that take a few minutes to prepare and hours to chill that can be spread over several days.

Here are the simple steps:

I purchased ladyfingers for the shell of this charlotte. Ladyfingers are long finger-shaped sponge cookies also known as boudoir biscuits or sponge biscuits or sponge fingers or Naples biscuits or Savoy biscuits (savoiardi) or biscuits à la cuillère. Made from a sponge cake batter piped in short finger shapes onto a baking sheet and baked, ladyfingers also can be homemade. These dry sponge cookies can be eaten by themselves or as an accompaniment to frozen desserts and are traditionally used in composed desserts such as tiramisu, English trifles or charlottes. Although store-bought ladyfingers are crisper than homemade, both work well in a charlotte when drizzled with a few spoons of sugar syrup. They are readily available in many stores and online in packages of 30-40. But if commercially baked ladyfingers are unavailable, they can be baked easily from many online recipes.

Some charlotte recipes instruct fitting and piecing leftover ladyfingers for the base of the cake. Because 20 or so ladyfingers are leftover from lining the sides of an 8-inch mold, this charlotte could have been an even easier, no-bake dessert. But I wanted a solid, not pieced, bottom, so I baked a genoise layer, a sponge cake whose structure derives from whipped eggs, providing a firm foundation for the strawberry gelée and mousse. A genoise, with a texture similar to ladyfingers, is not only light and airy from the whipped eggs, but also has a strong structure that absorbs plenty of syrup for extra flavor and moisture without becoming soggy. The genoise can be baked several days ahead of assembling the charlotte. (If making a charlotte for the first time, fitting the leftover ladyfingers as the base can eliminate this step.)

A simple sugar syrup takes a few minutes to prepare in advance. It is a required ingredient for this recipe to moisten the ladyfingers and the genoise. The syrup, enhanced with liquor or extract, adds flavor and texture to the cake. The syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks. Without added liquor, this syrup is also great for sweetening iced tea, lemonade or cocktails.

The strawberry gelée, a combination of chopped strawberries, sugar and gelatin, tops the genoise and adds a layer of tartness. Some of the gelée liquid is saved for glazing the cake. This step is optional and could be substituted with purchased seedless strawberry jam.

The strawberry mousse, a mixture of puréed strawberries, heavy cream, sugar and gelatin, creates a luscious, airy filling. Both the strawberry gelée and mousse were prepared on the day the charlotte was assembled, a day before serving.

This combination of components produced a Strawberry Charlotte Russe that is ethereal, filled with various textures and flavors — a perfect celebration of strawberry season! The light, sweet and creamy mousse filling, tart gelée and crunchy ladyfingers create an elegant, timeless dessert, great for a special occasion. I will save this recipe in my spring dessert collection and will not wait for years to make it again.

Strawberry Charlotte Russe

For charlotte shell:
24-26 ladyfingers (savoiardi), purchased

For genoise layer:
4 eggs, room temperature
4.25 ounces (120g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4.2 ounces (120g) cake flour, sifted
Pinch salt

For simple sugar syrup:
½ cup (4 oz, 125 ml) water
⅓ cup (3 oz, 85g) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons of lemon extract or liquor of choice (optional)

For strawberry gelée and glaze:
or substitute with 1 cup purchased seedless strawberry jam. 750 g strawberries, chopped
⅔ cup sugar
1 package (7g) powdered gelatin
½ teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup water

For strawberry mousse:
½ lb (500 g) strawberries + 15 for decoration
¼ cup + 2 tbsp (75g) sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 packets (14g) powdered gelatin
1 ¼ cup (300 ml) whipping cream

Preparing Genoise layer: Combine eggs and sugar in a large mixer bowl. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water and warm egg mixture by continuously whisking for approximately five minutes until warm to the touch, between 110°-120°F(43°-49°C). (Bowl with egg mixture should not touch the simmering water. Constance whisking prevents eggs from scrambling.)

Remove bowl from the pot, add vanilla and continue whisking egg mixture, by hand or stand mixer (initially on low speed for one minute and then on medium-high speed for ten minutes) until approximately tripled in volume, pale yellow, room temperature and at ribbon stage. (The batter should fall slowly from the whisk forming a ribbon that holds its shape.)

Heat oven to 350°F (180°C).

Sift flour and salt directly over the egg mixture in thirds, gently folding after each addition. Continue folding until the flour is barely incorporated.

Butter one or two 8” (20.3 cm) cake pans. (I mistakenly used one cake pan, but 2 cake pans will produce a thinner cake layer that would not require splitting.) Line cake pan bottom with parchment and butter parchment. Pour in and level batter.

Bake 18-22 minutes without convection. (Do not open the oven door for 15 minutes so the cake bakes sufficiently and does not collapse.) Genoise is ready when golden and a cake tester or wooden toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a cooling rack. Then turn out onto the cooling rack. Remove and discard parchment paper and cool.

Before assembling charlotte, cool genoise completely. If genoise is baked in one pan, carefully split the layer into two. If assembling cake on another day, wrap genoise tightly in plastic wrap and hold at room temperature.

Preparing simple sugar syrup: Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat just until sugar is melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely before adding the liquor/extract, if used. Store in lidded jar until ready to use.

Preparing strawberry gelée and glaze: Combine chopped strawberries and sugar in a medium bowl. Set aside for 30 minutes so that berries mascerate and juice is released.

Drain the juice into a small saucepan, reserving strawberries for later. Stir in gelatin and let sit for 10 minutes until gelatin blooms, absorbing juice. Bring mixture in the saucepan to a simmer, stirring until gelatin dissolves. (Do not boil.) Remove from the stove. Stir in lemon zest and juice.

Pour ¾ of a cup of juice into a measuring cup and set aside to use as glaze.

Just before assembling the cake, stir strawberries into remaining hot juice and set aside to cool at room temperature.

Preparing strawberry mousse: Make the strawberry purée. Wash and hull the strawberries. Set aside about 15-16 strawberries for cake decorating, puréeing the remainder in a blender. If needed, strain purée through a fine-meshed strainer to discard the seeds.

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat about a third of the strawberry purée with half of the sugar (¼ cup + 2 tablespoons/75g) and gelatin. Simmer for 1 minute, whisking continuously to avoid lumps until sugar dissolves and mixture thickens slightly. Remove from the heat, whisk in remaining purée and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Make strawberry mousse. In a large mixing bowl, whip cream to firm peaks. With a spatula, gently fold in strawberry purée. Mix until the mousse is evenly pink in color and no lumps are visible, but the mixture is foamy.

Assembling charlotte: Line an 8” round springform cake pan with parchment paper or acetate (bottom and rim).

Trim one genoise round to a circle smaller in diameter than the thickness of 2 ladyfingers using a cardboard template or an adjustable cake ring. (About ¾ inch or 2 cm in my case.) (Save and freeze the other genoise round, tightly wrapped for another dessert.)

Center the trimmed cake layer in prepared cake pan so there is room to insert ladyfingers around the base. This is the charlotte bottom.

Trim 20 ladyfingers on one end to a length ½ to 1 inch ( cm) higher than the rim of the cake pan. Pour sugar syrup into a shallow bowl. Briefly dip the flat side of the ladyfingers one at a time in the syrup and fit it against the side of the pan with rounded, sugared side facing out and flat soaked side facing in. Repeat arranging ladyfingers around the sides of the pan snugly avoiding gaps. (Depending on the width of the ladyfingers about 18-19 ladyfingers may be needed to build the sides.) Drizzle cake layer with 2 tablespoons of sugar syrup.

Refrigerate charlotte shell for 1 hour.

Chill strawberry gelée mixture in the refrigerator for 20 minutes until the liquid becomes syrupy and thick (like molasses). Pour into charlotte shell on top of the genoise and level. (Or spread the strawberry jam on the genoise.) Refrigerate for another hour until gelée or jam is set.

Pour strawberry mousse on top of the gelée or jam and smooth top with a spatula.

Refrigerate charlotte, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator overnight to achieve maximum gelling.

Four hours before serving, carefully remove the cake from springform mold, peel off the parchment or acetate collar from the edges and place on a serving plate. Decorate the charlotte as desired with strawberries and glaze or warmed jam. Refrigerate for several hours until serving. Tie a ribbon around charlotte, if desired.

Serves 8