Raspberry charlotte

Raspberry charlotte recipe – finally! :)

by Lili
March 4, 2015
56 comments
Special everyday cakes and treats

‘Where’s the recipe for that raspberry ladyfinger cake on my homepage header?’  Good question!  Well, once upon a time it was on my header and requests were coming in for this pretty and absolutely delicious raspberry charlotte.  I won’t even mess around to make it healthier so you’ll get the unadulterated naughty French version (ahem, where’s your mind going?!).  I mean there’ll be moist sponge fingers and Bavarian cream, all made with real whipping cream, sugar and flour!!!  Some of you might be jumping for joy anticipating your next sugar high.  For those experiencing pangs of guilt like me, please remember French cakes contain a low percentage of sugar.  Let’s also focus on the large number of fresh raspberries involved!  After all, would you say non merci! to this cake and a tiny glass of sparkling wine?  And wouldn’t you like to serve this easy-to-make light and elegant dessert that will impress your guests and your stomach?  Um… have I convinced you yet?  I’ll stop the cake ramble and show you the goods! 🙂

Raspberry charlotte

Raspberry charlotte russe

I based this recipe on the famous pâtissier Gerard Mulot’s Charlotte aux framboises found in Linda Dannenberg’s book ‘Paris Boulangerie-Pâtisserie’.  Lots of great French classic recipes in there.

Planning – Start the day before or early morning!

  • DAY 1:  sponge fingers, bavaroise and assembly with half the raspberries (300g)
  • Stays in the fridge overnight (or at least 6 hours)
  • DAY 2:  place the other half of raspberries on top of the cake (300g), glaze, serve and eat!

How you could adapt the recipe

Some of the changes I made was piping the sponge fingers together in strips rather than separately, which I did last year.  We piped strips on the Cordon Bleu course because, I suspect, everything was less likely to fall apart!  But separate sponge fingers are also very pretty and you can choose whichever method you prefer.  Also, you can make your sponge fingers 5cm high instead of 6cm so the raspberry layer is above the fingers in the cake (I’m going to try this next time).

I’ve changed the quantities so you’ll be putting more raspberries inside with the bavaroise (again, as I did last year when I kind of went off piste from the recipe!) rather than a great majority on top.  It’s still a great cake, but look at last year’s on my header and how nice it is to have loads of raspberries inside!  You could even add 100 to 200g of raspberries to the recipe and up your vitamin intake! 🙂

Charlotte aux framboises

Raspberry charlotte

Ingredients

Sponge fingers

  • 100g plain flour
  • 4 large eggs (separated) – 245g (170g egg whites and 75g yolks)
  • 90g caster sugar
  • icing sugar (about 6 tablespoons)

Bavarian cream (bavaroise)

  • 250g milk – I used semi-skimmed but the original recipe uses full-fat
  • 2 tablespoons (to put in the milk) + 50g golden caster sugar
  • half a vanilla bean (split in half) or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 4 sheets gelatine (or 2 teaspoons powdered gelatine)
  • 1 tbsp cold water
  • 3 large egg yolks (60g)

For assembling the cake

  • 2 or 3 tbsp raspberry liqueur or kirsch (optional) – you could also use orange juice
  • 600g fresh raspberries (300g inside and 300g of the prettiest for the top) – lightly washed and dried
  • 175g whipping cream (35%) or double/heavy cream
  • 3 tbsp redcurrant jelly or strained raspberry jam (passed through a sieve to get rid of seeds)

Method

First make the sponge fingers (aka Biscuits à la cuillère and ladyfingers)

DSCF6231Preheat the oven to 175°C (static, non-convection oven) or 155°C (fan-assisted oven)

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Place baking paper on a 30x40cm baking tray and prepare a no.10 nozzle in a disposable piping bag. Have some icing sugar and a sieve ready too.

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Draw a circle around the cake tin then some 5cm or 6cm high strips – you’ll need a total strip length of 65cm for the circumference of the cake but you can do some extra ones, just in case.

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Turn the paper around, so the ink marks are face down on the baking tray, ensuring stain-free sponge fingers!

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Weigh the ingredients for the sponge fingers and find a 20cm round cake tin with a removable bottom circle or a bottomless cake ring.  Sieve the flour onto a large piece of greaseproof paper.

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Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until they reach soft peak.

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Whisk in the caster sugar little by little until the mixture is not dry but just reaches the stage where it is stiff enough it doesn’t slide out of an upside down bowl!

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Nice and glossy!

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Gently fold in the beaten egg yolk until almost incorporated.

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Pour the flour in a thin steady stream into the mixture, while gently folding. Fold until just incorporated. Do not overmix or the mixture will flatten out and you’ll get sponge bricks…!

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Pipe out the rows of ladyfingers first. If you make them slightly slanted it adds ‘movement’ to the cake. Do the base circle last. Sprinkle everything with icing sugar. Wait a few minutes then sprinkle again.

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Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 to 17 minutes, until the fingers are golden brown and spring back a little when pressed slightly with a finger.

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Let them cool for a few minutes then scrape off the greaseproof paper or peel off the paper.

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Cool completely on a wire rack.

Now let’s make the bavaroise!

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Heat the milk, 2 tablespoons of sugar and a split vanilla bean in a medium heavy-based pan on low-medium heat till the sugar melts (stir) then bring to the boil.  Cover and leave to macerate for at least 30 mins.

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Soak the gelatine sheets in water so they soften.

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Whisk the egg yolks with the caster sugar…

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… until pale, light and fluffy!

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Pour the milk into the eggs and sugar, whisking vigorously.

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Then pour the mixture back into the saucepan.

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Stir constantly on low-medium heat till the mixture thickens slightly and coats your spoon. This can take between 4 to 10 minutes. DON’T LET IT BOIL.  Take it off the heat and stir in the softened gelatine (squeeze the water out first) and 1 tbsp of water, till dissolved.  If using vanilla extract, add now.

Pass the mixture through a sieve, scraping it with a metal spoon so that it goes down into a clean bowl.

Fridge

Put the bowl in the fridge for about 30 minutes, but stir it every now and then.  It should thicken and become the consistency of egg whites.  If it becomes too thick, then whisk until it is smooth again.

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Whisk the whipping cream to soft peak.

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Gently fold the creme anglaise into the whipping cream until you get a smooth and fluffy mixture.

And there’s your bavaroise!  Hurray! 🙂  You’ll want to assemble the cake now, because you don’t want that bavarian cream to start setting before it goes in.

Assembling the cake

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Cut along the bottom of sponge finger strips to make a flat edge which will go around the bottom of the baking tin.

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First place the strips of sponge fingers round the edge of the round tin, with the fingers facing outwards. Then place the round circle at the bottom (cut if necessary).  Brush the bottom layer and inside of the upright fingers with raspberry liqueur, kirsch or orange juice.

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Spoon and level out a third of the bavaroise on the bottom of the charlotte. Spread half the raspberries (150g) over the cream, trying to avoid putting them next to the sponge (the juice can leak out and stain).

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Cover with another third of the cream, smoothing with the back of a metal spoon.

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Spread the other 150g of raspberries over this layer then cover with the rest of the bavaroise cream (the last third).

Fridge

Loosely cover the charlotte with clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.

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Day 2 (or 6 hours later), cover the top of the charlotte with raspberries. Heat the jam on low heat until just melted and brush gently over the raspberries in a thin layer. Carefully remove the tin.  You can tie a ribbon around it if you like. Serve as soon as you can, with a raspberry coulis if you like.

Looking after Charlotte

One reason you serve this cake quite soon is that the raspberries could start staining the sponge fingers and spoil the visual effect, but it will still be delicious and keeps in the fridge a couple of days in an airtight container.  It also freezes really well, so you can put individual portions in the freezer (keeps in there for 2 weeks before some deterioration in taste or texture) and take out whenever you need a piece of lovely cake!  Which reminds me – think I’ll go and take a slice out for myself right now! 🙂  Oh, and seems a shame not to take it to a party, so we’re off to The Wednesday Roundup Party at LeMoine Family Kitchen and then Fiesta Friday at the Novice Gardener, Angie’s place.

Raspberry charlotte

Have a slice of raspberry charlotte!

The song

You might notice this post is not as batty as some of my others.  Not to worry… I’m sure next time I’ll be off on one again.  I was looking for a Charlotte song to liven things up a bit.  The great and legendary French singer-songwriter-actor Serge Gainsbourg wrote various songs for his daughter Charlotte, but they’re a little risqué so I chickened out – they’re even naughtier than this cake!  Are you curious?

The very very short history

My little raspberry cake is actually a charlotte russe, which was reportedly invented by the great French chef Marie-Antoine Carême (1784–1833).  But there is a multitude of diverse charlottes, like the royale,  chocolate or hot apple and bread ones, which I would luuv to explore. Do you know of any more?  Look here or here if you’d like to see some others!  Miam miam!

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A charlotte russe with sponge fingers and bavaroise

So parting in sweet drooling, I’ll bid you a fond farewell lovely reader and hope you have fun baking and eating this week!  Till next time! 🙂

One week later

P.S.  Exciting news!!!  This raspberry charlottte was featured at the Novice Gardener’s Fiesta Party no. 59, which means it was one of the four dishes chosen and given a special mention out of the 120 submitted!!!  Woohoo!  I was at the bottom of a rock ready to climb when I read the e-mail with this news.  Sooooo hyper and excited!!! 🙂

You can click on the image to read the comments or better still make the cake!? 🙂

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Baking on Sundays with my French mum was a lovely part of my childhood. Later I experimented with baking books or internet recipes and did the pâtisserie course at Le Cordon Bleu Paris. Still trying out new recipes and inventing cakes with influences from all around the world, including some healthier ones. Yes, love cakes!!! Hope you'll love them too and have fun baking. :)

56 thoughts on “Raspberry charlotte recipe – finally! :)”

    • Lili's avatar
      Lili says:

      You may suggest Dookes and good idea so cheers! In fact, we’re very partial to Crémant de Bourgogne in my family, what with uncle living near Dijon and having it on hand with cassis to make Kir too. I’m in the land of Cava here… also good! Think I’ll just have a little glass now. Thanks for dropping in! 🙂

      Like

  2. Nancy's avatar
    Nancy says:

    With all of the fruit, this must be a healthy cake! This is absolutely stunning, Lilli! The deliciousness it offers sounds wonderful…every aspect of it sounds Mmm, Mmm good!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Lili's avatar
      Lili says:

      Thanks Julie! I’m just round the corner from you, in Barcelona, so come on over for tea! 🙂

      Like

      • Nimmi's avatar
        Nimmi says:

        I love all of your cake. Sometimes I really wish if I can be one in your neighborhood then you can always find me sitting in your kitchen like a kitten 😉 😀
        Really, dear, you are an awesome cook and I can smell the hot, freshly made cakes and cookies whenever I come across your post 🙂
        Thank you for making me a BIG fan of Lili’s Cakes 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      • Lili's avatar
        Lili says:

        Very sweet of you to say so Nimmi! 🙂 Thank you for all those lovely comments and I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog and virtual kitchen smells! Shame you can’t be sitting here in the kitchen helping me eat the stuff but I always save you a virtual piece now! 🙂 You, and everyone who writes me and reads the blog, keep inspiring me to post more recipes, so thank you too! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      • Nimmi's avatar
        Nimmi says:

        It’s totally my pleasure dear! In that case, I’ll imagine myself sitting in your kitchen tasting the recipes 🙂
        I want to see more of your sweet and yummy work. So, please do it :). I will always be around 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

    • Lili's avatar
      Lili says:

      You’re welcome skd and happy you liked it! You could also use a standard genoise method, but I’ve kind of grown attached to folding the egg yolk in and it seems to produce really nice sponge fingers! Thanks for dropping by and for your positive comments too! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Pingback: The raspberry, avocado mousse and pistachio verrines recipe, a water photo and thanks Mr Conticini! | lili's cakes

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