Home › The Waldorf Kitchen › Charlotte Russe with Coffee
Charlotte Russe with Coffee
Thoroughly clean and line eight small charlotte-russe moulds with lady's-finger cakes, cut in halves; and if they should be higher than the moulds, trim them off at the edge. Add to one pint of vanilla cream two tablespoonfuls of coffee essence; beat all together well for two minutes, and fill the moulds with the mixture. Turn them out onto eight dessert-plates, spread a little more cream on the top, and cover each with one macaroon. Dress the remainder of the cream around the plates, and serve.
A plated charlotte russe from the Waldorf's pastry section, written for a cook who already knows the house's vanilla cream. The recipe's silence on chilling is the one gap worth filling before you start.
- The hinge: chillingNothing here says to refrigerate, though a filled mould of this kind would have to set cold before it could be turned out. Give them at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, or they will slump the moment they are turned out.
- "Vanilla cream"In this book that most likely means a Bavarian cream: a cooked vanilla custard set with gelatin and lightened with whipped cream. A pint is 2 cups.
- Coffee essenceA strong coffee concentrate of the period, often sweetened. Two tablespoons of cold espresso or a good instant coffee dissolved in a spoonful of water gives comparable strength; brewed drip coffee is more dilute.
- MouldsCharlotte-russe moulds are small straight-sided tin cups; sizes vary. Ramekins, dariole moulds or even paper cups work. Line the bottom with a round of parchment if you want a clean release.
- Lady's-finger cakesLadyfingers, the dry Italian savoiardi type rather than the soft sponge kind. Stand them upright around the inside wall, rounded side facing out, and trim flush with the rim as directed so the mould sits flat when inverted.
- Beating in the coffeeTwo minutes of beating is for even colour, not aeration. If the Bavarian has already begun to set, fold rather than beat, or you may break the gelatin structure and it will not firm up properly.
- Turning outDip each mould in warm water for a few seconds and invert onto the plate. Do it one at a time, plating as you go, since these soften quickly at room temperature.
- YieldEight individual desserts, one macaroon each. Traditional almond macaroons, not coconut ones.
The charlotte russe is generally traced to Antonin Carême, who is said to have renamed an earlier baked apple charlotte for his Russian patrons, replacing the fruit with cold Bavarian cream in a case of ladyfingers. Oscar Tschirky compiled this book in 1896. The coffee variation is simply the house vanilla cream with a flavouring beaten in, which is exactly what this page describes. That kind of modular construction is what allowed a kitchen serving hundreds to offer a dozen desserts from three or four base preparations.