This
classic dessert was invented by Antoinin Carème, a master of French Cuisine
who cooked for kings during his stay in St Petersburg, cooking for the Tsar in
the early 19th century. A lovely summer dessert, this is fiddly but not at all
difficult to make. You will have seen it on Great British Baker if you have
been watching; they did make it look very complicated. You do need to make it
in the morning to allow time to set, or the day before. You can use seedless
pulp, but a few seeds tell what the fruit is. If it is not sharp enough, add a
little lemon juice to taste. You can also use all sorts of different fruit. Bananas
(use 5, mashed) make a lovely Charlotte, so do puréed berries
(Photo: Yvonne Kampmeinert)
1 packet of lime or
lemon jelly - 450 ml double or whipping cream - 50 ml granadilla pulp or
freshly squeezed juice - 125 g fresh raspberries (or other berries) - a packet
of finger (boudoir) biscuits - optional, juice of half a lemon
You need a deep dish with straight sides so that the finger
biscuits can stand up. Lynne uses a 17 cm soufflé dish
Boil a kettle. Melt the jelly in 150 ml of boiling water; stir till the jelly is clear. Then add 300 ml cold water. Put a little jelly
into the base of your dish, about 1 cm deep. Put the dish into the fridge until
set. Keep the rest of the jelly mixture out of the fridge. While it is setting,
trim the edges of the sponge fingers so that they will fit closely together. Shake
off and discard the crumbs. Arrange some of the raspberries around the edges on
the set jelly, use about 10 or 12 evenly spaced, and one in the middle. Add a
little more jelly and return the dish to the fridge to set. Whip the cream until
stiff, stir in the granadilla pulp and the raspberries. When the base jelly is
nearly set, start dipping the finger biscuits briefly into the remaining jelly
and line the sides of the dish with the fingers, sugary side outward. Make sure that they fit closely together; you don’t want leaks. Then add the remaining nearly
set jelly to the cream mixture and spoon it into the dish. Chill till firm. Just
before serving, trim off the tops of the biscuits so that they are level with the
filling. Dip the base of the dish into hot water for a moment and put a round
serving dish over the dish, invert it and lift it away
The Charlotte should
stand up on its own and show its beautiful jelly 'face'. See the photograph
TIP:
If it looks like collapsing, tie a ribbon around it before serving
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
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