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Charlotte a La Chateaubriand

"Charlotte a la Chateaubriand" is one of the grand triumphs of the French cook's skill. In this case the mould of an anglefood or lady fingers is not filled with whipped cream, but with a very dainty ice cream, garnished with candied fruit. To make a large mould of this dainty dessert, scald a pint of cream, add the beaten yolks of four eggs and half cupful of sugar. Stir in a double boiler over the fire until the custard thickens. Then strain it, add two tablespoonfuls of Maraschino and half a gill of milk of almonds prepared as follows: Blanch four Jordan almonds, pound them to a paste with two tablespoonfuls of cold milk. Add two tablespoonfuls of cream when they have been brought to a paste, and strain the whole through a sieve, pressing through all but the dry meat of the almonds. Freeze the custard for about five minutes until it becomes thickened; then add a cupful of whipped cream and finish the freezing. Then add a quarter of a pound of candied cherries, each cut in half, and a quarter of a pound of apricots, green gages, and pears mixed and cut in small and very thin slices. These candied fruits should have been soaked in a little Maraschino for at least twelve hours. Pack the cream after adding the candied cream in a smooth mould that will just fit in the charlotte-russe mould, which is to be lined with cake. A plain quart mould will be suitable for the purpose. It must be covered tightly. Line the mould selected with strips of angel food, or lady-fingers at the sides after first covering the bottom with little circles of cake overlapping each other. Pour into the interstices and around the edges of the cakes a soft icing made by mixing the white of an egg with a cup of powdered sugar, three drops of lemon juice. This icing cements the cake together and fills up any interstices. Let the icing become hard before filling the cake. Just before the filling is added spread a thin layer of apricot jam on inside of the cake, then turn the frozen cream into the center of the mould. Turn out the charlottte on a low crystal platter. Decorate it with a wreath of whipped cream, dotted with candied fruit, and heap a little whipped cream over the top. This charlotte is also very nice filled with a plain chocolate ice cream and garnished on the outside with pistachio nuts and whipped cream.