Lemon mousse and raspberry charlotte royale recipe – and the cakometre!

by Lili
May 5, 2015
40 comments
Cake challenges, Special everyday cakes and treats

Want to impress your family, friends and stomach?  Come into the world of les charlottes royales. They’re easier than you’d expect, striking and delicious.  And my new invention the cakometre will calculate the number of slices you’re allowed so you can fully enjoy the beautiful fluffy, tangy and fresh lemon mousse surrounded by soft genoise swiss roll slices filled with raspberry jam.  All set off by the delightful sharpness of fresh raspberries.  Et voilà, a wonderful balance of flavours in a Lemon mousse and raspberry charlotte royale.  Sigh of contentment… sometimes you become very attached to a cake!  🙂

Charlotte royale

Lemon mousse and raspberry charlotte royale

How the cakometre was invented

Unfortunately a Charlotte Royale is not the kind of cake you can take hiking with you.  Not only would it be muttering ‘What am I doing here in the countryside with these peasants?’  It would also get battered and fall apart in the sun.

A bit like me.  Sunday I spent the day struggling up the hills of Collserola on the outskirts of Barcelona whimpering ‘I’m not a really a hiker!  Climbing’s easier’ and ‘I’m dying!’  I’m fine sitting at the bottom of a rock then climbing up a vertical face.  But I don’t really enjoy plodding up a looooong slope with no end in sight, observing the backs of proper hikers striding effortlessly upwards, clearly not suffering like me.

To cheer myself up I chatted (and whinged) to fellow hikers and invented the cakometre, which fits comfortably on your wrist like a watch and not only measures how many calories you’ve burnt but uses that information to tell you how many cakes you can eat as a result.  According to my calculations I’d earned three big slices of cake by the time I’d finished the hike!  I’d had one for breakfast so would have two for tea upon my return!  Woohoo!  🙂

A slice of lemon and raspberry charlotte

A slice of lemon and raspberry charlotte for breakfast

In the end it was so hot in the hills that even hardened hikers were wilting.  Hurray!  I mean oh dear…  The group voted not to continue up to the peak, we sat down to a picnic and I survived the day, went home and had my two slices of cake.

Another slice of charlotte! :)

Another slice of charlotte! 🙂

You might not want to do the hiking and suffering part but go straight to eating cake.  Fair enough.  If you want to take it really easy you can make the optional no-bake version using a couple of shop-bought raspberry swiss roll!  But the genoise sponge takes just 25 to 35 minutes to make and bake and the delightfully refreshing lemon mousse about 20 minutes to whip up.  So shall we start? 🙂

Lemon mousse and raspberry charlotte

Lemon mousse and raspberry charlotte

RECIPE

Ingredients (for a medium-sized bowl – about 18cm diametre and 10cm high)

Genoise sponge

  • 118g (2 medium-sized to large) beaten eggs
  • 63g (half a cup) plain all-purpose flour (sifted)
  • 63g (a third of a cup minus 1 tablespoon) caster (superfine) sugar or a third of a cup granulated sugar
  • a pinch of salt
  • optional:  a knife-tip of vanilla powder (or seeds scraped from a quarter of a vanilla bean)
  • raspberry jam for the swiss roll – about a quarter of a jar

Lemon mousse

  • 2 sheets of gelatine (gold leaf)
  • 62g (1 and a half lemons) freshly-squeezed lemon juice
  • 100ml whipping cream (35%) or double cream

      Italian meringue

  • 25g (1 tbsp + 2 tsp) mineral water
  • 63g (one third of a cup) granulated or caster sugar
  • 40g (1 medium-sized) egg white

Soaking juice

  • 2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed orange juice (half an orange)

Glaze

  • 2 generous tablespoons (25g) sugar – I used golden caster sugar, which makes the glaze darker
  • 3 tbsp (42g) water
  • 1 generous teaspoon arrowroot powder

Finish

Two small pummets of raspberries (around 200-250g)

Method

genoise swiss roll slices

Homemade raspberry swiss roll slices

A.  SWISS ROLL SLICES

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180°C (static, non-convection oven) or 160°C (fan-assisted oven).

Prepare your swiss roll baking tray (mine’s approximately 19cm x 28cm x 3cm):  butter lightly then line with greaseproof baking paper.DSCF9054Make the genoise – the recipe’s on my ‘basics’ page:  genoise sponge.

  1. Pour the genoise batter gently into your tray and spread evenly with the back of a metal spoon or spatula.  d7175e48-d914-46ab-b42f-495d996de87f_jpeg[1]
  2. Bake 10 – 15 minutes until golden, a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top springs back slightly when pressed lightly with a finger. Don’t open the oven door for the first 10 minutes!
  3. Once out of the oven leave to cool a few minutes.DSCF9076
  4. Place a sheet of greaseproof paper over a wire rack and sprinkle with a little caster sugar.
  5. Turn the genoise on to the paper and peel the paper on the top off the sponge.DSCF9080
  6.  If you’re not making the swiss rolls immediately, cover with a lightly damp and clean teacloth.

Make the Swiss roll slices

Spread a thin layer of raspberry jam on the sponge – about 5 to 6 tablespoons, to taste.

Carefully roll the long side towards you, a little tightly but ensuring the jam doesn’t squish out. Use the paper to help you.

DSCF9084

Press down lightly on the swiss roll with the seam underneath, to help seal.

Cut with a long serrated bread knife into a) 20 thin slices to include a sponge base or b) 14 thicker slices for a cake without a sponge base.

genoise raspberry jam swiss roll slices

raspberry jam swiss roll slices

Line your bowl with the slices 

Place 14 slices in the bowl (reserve six slices for later use if making a base).

This is the prototype with 14 slices of swiss roll and no sponge base. You might prefer this version.

B.  CLASSIC FRENCH LEMON MOUSSE

Please go to my Italian Meringue page under the basics section if you’d like extra tips and photos.

C.  FINAL ASSEMBLY

1. Pour the lemon mousse carefully into the bowl lined with swiss roll slices. Freeze 15 minutes.

2. Take out of the freezer and cover with the reserved swiss roll slices.

3.  Brush the six swiss roll slices on ‘top’ with freshly-squeezed orange juice.  Leave to soak 5 minutes then unmould onto a serving plate.  Brush the other swiss rolls on the charlotte with the remaining orange juice. Freeze for an hour or more so it can set.

Prepare the arrowroot glaze.

  1. Dissolve the caster sugar in the water at a low-medium heat then bring to a boil, stirring to make a light syrup.DSCF9117
  2. Mix the arrowroot with 2 tablespoons of water, stirring to make a smooth white liquid.DSCF9118
  3. Stir this mixture into the syrup, return to the heat and stir constantly till it boils again, then immediately take off the heat. It will have thickened to a soft jelly-like gloopy consistency.DSCF9123
  4. Let the glaze cool slightly before spooning over the charlotte (or brushing) to have a thinly even and shiny layer.DSCF9125
  5. Let it set 5 minutes then wipe the drops of glaze on the serving plate around the bottom of the charlotte.  Don’t worry, these charlottes never look dead perfect but with the raspberries …

Place raspberries around the base of the charlotte and several on top (you can do this shortly before serving).Eating and looking after Charlotte

You could eat the charlotte after a few hours, but it’s great the next day!  🙂  It keeps well in airtight tupperware for around 3 days in the fridge and a few weeks in the freezer.

And so that more people can meet Charlotte,  I’m taking this cake to the May 2015 Perfecting Patisserie challenge hosted by Lucy at BakingQueen74 and Kevin at The Crafty Larder.  You can click on the image if you’d like to see some yummy treats or bring a little something! You could also get some of this cake at the usual wonderful Fiesta Friday party kindly hosted by Angie@the novice gardener and co-hosts Caroline @Caroline’s Cooking and Jess @Cooking Is My Sport.  You’re always very welcome to come along and join in!   And perhaps everyone would like a little slice of cake now, as a reward for getting through Monday and the rest of the week?  My magic cakometre is showing me you all deserve some! 🙂

Do try making this lovely Lemon mousse and raspberry charlotte royale – it’s actually pretty straightforward!  You get to practise making a genoise sponge and classic French mousse made with Italian meringue (is that a contradiction?!).  Anyway, it’s all worthwhile because it’s so fairy-tale-like delicious!

So I’ll wave farewell to you sweet reader and wish you a wonderful week and weekend ahead!  Happy celebrating life and Cinco de Mayo if you celebrate (or celebrated) that too!  🙂

P.S.  I’m thinking of inventing a Tres Leches flan dessert later.  There’s our Tres leches cake challenge and I need to experiment with that healthier version.  Have you made a tres leches cake yet?  🙂

3 hours later – Have just found out about the royal baby Charlotte who was born yesterday?!  Total cake serendipidity!!!

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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. :)

40 thoughts on “Lemon mousse and raspberry charlotte royale recipe – and the cakometre!”

  2. twenty7zero3's avatar
    twenty7zero3 says:

    That cakes looks amazing! Wish I could eat some 😦
    I hadn’t noticed your new blog layout, because I normally read your posts on the reader. I love this new layout though. It’s perfect for your blog!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Lili's avatar
      Lili says:

      Thank you! I’d love to hand out real slices to you … but it’s just the usual virtual ones going out! And thanks for the feedback on the new layout! It’s always a bit strange at the beginning having a new ‘home’ but I love the big photos here. Nice to see you again! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      • twenty7zero3's avatar
        twenty7zero3 says:

        Virtual slices are better, I’m not allergic to those ones and they are extra friendly on the cakeometer!
        I’m getting a bit frustrated with my own theme, I’m tempted to go premium but I haven’t found one I love yet.
        When you buy a premium is it forever usable again, say if you switched your blog theme and then wanted to go back to the old theme that you purchased, would it still be there for you to use?

        Liked by 1 person

      • Lili's avatar
        Lili says:

        Cool! Virtual it is then! 🙂 I’ve only had this theme for one day and it was cheapish (18 euros) but I knew I wanted something with lots of big photos of cakes on the front page! It helps if you have an idea of what effect you want to create … they’re always coming up with new ones so one day you’ll see one you like. 🙂
        I have no idea whether you can go to and fro from a premium theme or not, sorry. I imagine you can because it says ‘change’ on a button in my admin, but you could ask the wordpress customer service … with that little pop up box in the corner that asks if you’d like help! Good luck finding a theme! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

    • Lili's avatar
      Lili says:

      🙂 Good idea Mum!! We’ll test it again together in a few weeks when I visit! Between visits to patisseries… Yay! And yum! 🙂

      Like

  7. Nimmi's avatar
    Nimmi says:

    Wowwww!! This one is looking so delicious and inviting, that I really can’t stop myself from having a bite 😉
    Yummmmmm… Thank you dear for this sweet and tasty treat 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

      • Nimmi's avatar
        Nimmi says:

        Yummm… I always love your cakes more over, it’s presentations are so tempting and inviting 🙂 Thank you, dear ❤ 🙂

        Like

      • Lili's avatar
        Lili says:

        Thank you so much Nimmi and it’s a pleasure! Very happy you’re appreciating the cakes and cake visuals! 🙂 x

        Liked by 1 person

  9. Albert the Dog's avatar
    Albert the Dog says:

    Lili, that is a very pretty cake, and lemon and raspberry is one of the Lady’s favorite combinations. We did make our tres leches cake (I helped!) and will be working on our post in time for your deadline.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Lili's avatar
      Lili says:

      Thank you Albert! I’m very glad you like the cake and that your Lady appreciates the flavour combination – it’s one of my favourites too! Also happy to hear you’ve made the tres leches cake and that you helped. Really looking forward to seeing your cake and post – and photos of you assisting, of course! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Lucy @ BakingQueen74's avatar
    Lucy @ BakingQueen74 says:

    Thank you very much for entering your Lemon mousse and raspberry charlotte royale into #PerfectingPatisserie! It is beautiful and a real accomplishment. I definitely need a cakometre as well! Followed your blog and am going to read up for some patisserie tips! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Lili's avatar
      Lili says:

      It’s a pleasure and thank you so much Lucy for setting up such an interesting Perfecting Patisserie challenge! I’m really looking forward to following your blog, seeing the different entries, picking up and working on different patisserie skills… 🙂 Love your choux puffs. Hope you enjoy the blog, and virtual cakometres will be distributed freely as soon as intl no-diet day is over! 🙂

      Like

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