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Fruit Charlotte
Line cups with triangular pieces of sponge cake and chocolate cake, alternating. Fill the center with slices of orange and peach. Chill, turn out on a serving-plate and surround with whipped cream and blackberries. Put a spoonful of whipped cream on top and serve very cold.
An assembly dessert rather than a cooked one: the work is in the cutting and the chilling, and the recipe assumes you already have cake on hand.
- CupsThese are individual moulds — custard cups, ramekins or teacups. Line them smoothly-side-out, since the lining becomes the outside of the turned-out charlotte.
- Turning out cleanlyThe hinge of the dish. Line each cup with a strip of parchment or dampen it lightly before fitting the cake, or the sponge will stick and the wedge pattern will tear. A brief dip of the base in warm water loosens a stubborn one.
- The cakeDay-old sponge and chocolate cake cut better than fresh; a slightly dry crumb holds its wedge shape and absorbs a little fruit juice without collapsing. Cut slices about 1/4 inch thick, then into triangles.
- Fruit and moistureDrain the orange and peach slices well before filling. Excess juice softens the cake lining from the inside and the charlotte slumps when unmoulded.
- Chilling timeNo time is given. Two hours covered in the refrigerator is the minimum for the shape to set; overnight is better, and the cups should be covered so the cake does not dry.
- PeachesThe recipe does not say whether the fruit is fresh or canned. Well-drained canned peach slices work out of season; frozen ones shed too much liquid.
- Whipped creamWhip to soft-to-medium peaks and hold it cold — a loose cream will run across the plate as soon as the fruit juices meet it. Sweeten lightly if at all, since the cake is already sweet.
- YieldFigure one cup per person. Assemble and unmould shortly before serving; these do not hold well once plated.