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Charlotte Russe
Line a plain cake mold, or a small round tin pan, or a long and narrow mold made for the purpose with either lady fingers or large sponge drops. This is done by dipping the edges of the cakes in white of eggs and placing them side by side overlapping each other. Then make Bavarian cream sufficient, and when finished beating, just as it begins to set, fill up the molds with it. If poured in too thin the cream runs and covers up the cakes, yet it should be fluid enough to settle to the shape and bind them all together. Set the charlotte in the refrigerator to become firm and cold. Bavarian cream is designated as being the filling oftenest employed, but there is no rule in the matter and any other of the creams can be used as well. Charlotte a la Chantilly is charlotte-russe filled with the thickest of thick cream sweetened and flavored and whipped to froth and made firm enough to turn out simply by being made very cold. Charlotte russe au marasquin is the charlotte filled with maraschino Bavarian cream very highly flavored with the liqueur and with correspondingly less sugar. Charlotte russe aux fraises is the charlotte filled with strawberry Bavarian cream, or with whole strawberries in whipped cream like the mode chantilly.
This is an assembly recipe: the book assumes you already have its Bavarian cream on hand, and everything here hinges on catching that cream at the right moment of setting. A few notes on vessels, timing and the raw egg white used as glue.
- The hinge: catch the cream mid-setGelatin-set Bavarian cream must be poured when it has thickened to the consistency of unwhipped heavy cream but still flows. Too warm and it seeps between the ladyfingers and drowns them; too cool and it will not settle into the mold or bind the lining. Stir the bowl over ice water and test on a spoon rather than watching the clock.
- Egg white as adhesiveThe raw white brushed on the cake edges is never cooked. Use pasteurized egg white, or brush the edges with warm apricot glaze or a thick sugar syrup, which holds just as well.
- MoldsThe "long and narrow mold made for the purpose" is an oblong charlotte-russe mold; the round, straight-sided pail-shaped charlotte tin is the separate form the recipe also names. A 1-quart souffle dish, a springform, or a loaf pan lined with plastic wrap all work. Line the base with a disc of parchment so it releases cleanly.
- Lady fingers and sponge dropsSavoiardi from a package are drier and sturdier than homemade and are the easier choice; "large sponge drops" are simply piped rounds of the same batter. Trim the fingers flush with the rim so the top sits level when inverted.
- Chilling time"Until firm and cold" in practice means several hours in the refrigerator; overnight is safest. A charlotte turned out too early can collapse along the seams between the cakes.
- Charlotte fillingCharlotte filling -- The book's Chantilly version relies on cream "thickest of thick" and very cold. Modern heavy cream at 36 percent will hold, but only just; whip it to firm peaks, keep it under 40F, and do not attempt to unmold it in a warm kitchen. A teaspoon of gelatin bloomed and folded in is one modern insurance, though the book expects cold alone to do the work.
- Maraschino noteNineteenth-century maraschino was a Dalmatian cherry liqueur, sweet but nothing like the syrup from a jar of cocktail cherries. Luxardo or a similar clear maraschino is what the reduced sugar in that variation is compensating for.
- YieldA 1-quart mold serves six to eight. Unmold onto a chilled plate, and serve within a day the cake lining softens steadily once the cream touches it.
Charlotte russe belongs to the early nineteenth-century French repertoire and is generally credited to Antonin Carême, who is often said to have developed the cold, cream-filled form, though its relationship to the earlier hot apple charlotte is unclear; the "russe" is usually traced to his period of service to Russian patrons, though the story is traditional rather than documented. What made the dish so useful to a working American pastry cook is exactly what this entry shows: the shell is fixed and the filling is not, so one lining of lady fingers yields a whole menu of desserts by swapping the cream -- Bavarian, Chantilly, maraschino, strawberry. The charlotte later went commercial in the United States, sold on New York streets as a paper-wrapped cylinder of sponge and whipped cream, which is why the name survived in American memory long after the molded version left the table.