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Individual Charlottes (It is easily practicable)
It is easily practicable to make them in custard cups with 3 thin lady fingers trimmed a little to shape and not overlapped. Fill with any of the creams and place them in the refrigerator to set solid. When served have ready some thick whipped cream, turn out the charlottes on ice cream plates and top them with a spoonful of the froth.
A shortcut version of charlotte russe, scaled down to single servings. The instruction that carries the whole thing is that the ladyfingers must stand side by side without overlapping — overlap gives you a thick doughy seam that will not slice or turn out cleanly.
- Custard cupsCustard cups of this sort commonly held somewhere around 5 to 6 oz, roughly 2/3 to 3/4 cup, though sizes varied. Three ladyfingers trimmed to fit will line a cup that size; anything larger and you will need four or five, or the filling will bulge past the biscuit.
- "Any of the creams"This entry points back to cream fillings given elsewhere in the book. Whichever you use, a charlotte needs a filling stiff enough to hold a shape once unmolded — a gelatin-set Bavarian or a stabilised whipped-cream filling, not a pouring custard or pastry cream.
- Trimming to shapeCut the ladyfingers so the flat cut edges butt against each other and the rounded tops sit level with the rim of the cup. Trim the bases square as well, or the biscuits lean inward and the cream leaks behind them.
- Setting time"Set solid" in a modern refrigerator means at least 4 hours and preferably overnight. The recipe gives no timing of its own.
- Turning outNo unmolding method is given. Dip each cup to the rim in warm water for 5 to 10 seconds, run a thin knife around the edge and invert onto the plate. Chilled plates help the charlotte hold its edges while you finish the rest.
- "The froth"The topping is cream whipped to a firm peak, not the soft billow the word suggests. Sweeten lightly if the filling is already sweet; a spoonful dropped on top of each is the whole finish, no piping intended.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield. Reckon on roughly half a cup of filling per lined cup, and scale your batch of cream accordingly.
- If the filling contains raw eggSeveral period Bavarian creams fold uncooked whites or yolks into the gelatin base. If you are following one of those, use pasteurised eggs, since the mixture is never heated after the eggs go in.
The charlotte russe — a mold lined with ladyfingers and filled with Bavarian cream — is generally credited to Antonin Carême in the early nineteenth century, who is said to have renamed an earlier apple charlotte in honour of his Russian patron. This entry sets each portion in a custard cup, which keeps its shape in the ice box and can be turned out to order, rather than building one large mold that had to be cut and served in the dining room. It relies on ready-made ladyfingers and on "any of the creams" already prepared, so the same base is expected to serve a number of finished desserts.