Charlotte Russe: Ladyfinger Cake with Bavarian Cream
Charlotte russe is a chilled dessert with an aristocratic air: a crown of upright ladyfingers enclosing a light, wobbly vanilla Bavarian cream. It's credited to Marie-Antoine Carême, the French pastry chef who worked for Tsar Alexander I, which is where the name comes from. It's unmolded whole, tied with a ribbon and brought to the table like a cake.
It's a gelatin dessert, and on purpose. Bavarian cream should melt on the tongue, and gelatin is what does that: it melts at body temperature. Everything hinges on cooling the custard until it just starts to thicken, right before folding in the whipped cream. If it's still warm, the cream deflates; if it has already set, you get lumps.
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Ingredients
- 24 ladyfingers (about 200 g)
- 500 ml milk
- 1 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 egg yolks
- 120 g sugar
- 12 g powdered gelatin
- 60 ml cold water
- 400 ml well-chilled heavy cream
- Red berries (to decorate)
Method
- 1
Line the base of a 20 cm springform pan with parchment paper. Cover the base with ladyfingers trimmed to fit, and stand the rest around the edge, smooth side facing in and packed tightly so they don't gap when you fill it.
- 2
Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let it bloom for 5 minutes.
- 3
Heat the milk with the vanilla bean split lengthwise until almost boiling. In a bowl, whisk the yolks with the sugar until pale.
- 4
Pour the hot milk over the yolks in a thin stream, whisking, and return everything to the pan. Cook over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the custard coats the back of the spoon, about 5 minutes. Don't let it boil: the yolks will curdle.
- 5
Off the heat, add the bloomed gelatin and stir until it dissolves. Strain and remove the vanilla bean.
- 6
Set the bowl over a larger bowl of ice water and stir now and then until the custard cools and starts to thicken, to the texture of unbeaten egg white. This is the most important step: take the 15 minutes it needs, but don't walk away, because from that point it sets quickly.
- 7
Meanwhile, whip the cream to soft peaks, so it holds trails but still falls from the spoon. Fold it into the custard in three additions.
- 8
Pour the Bavarian cream into the ladyfinger crown, smooth the top and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
- 9
Carefully release the ring, transfer the charlotte to a platter, tie the ribbon around it and decorate with red berries before serving.