Raspberry Charlotte Russe-France #42

on

Raspberry Charlotte Russe- France #42

I made this version of a Charlotte Russe for a dear friend's birthday. It was a huge success. Not only was it delicious, it looked amazing, if I do say so myself.
A Charlotte Russe can be many flavors. I had made a chocolate Charlotte Russe many years ago. I was excited to try this raspberry version, which has a lovely sweet/tart mousse, raspberry preserves, sponge cake and lady fingers.

Raspberry Mousse:

2-1/2 c. frozen raspberries
1/2 c. sugar
Juice from 1 medium lemon, 2 T. for mousse + 1 T. for simple syrup (recipe to follow)
1 T. Knox unflavored Gelatin
3 c. heavy whipping cream
6 T. confectioner's sugar                                      

Sponge Cake:

4 large eggs at room temperature
2/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. cake flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
7 oz. pkg. Lady Fingers
3-4 T. raspberry preserves or jam

Simple Syrup:

Stir together---
1 c. warm water
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. sugar

Topping:

whipping cream
raspberries
mint leaves for garnish


  1. In medium sauce pan, combine frozen raspberries and 1/2 c. sugar. Cook stirring occasionally until jam consistency. Remove from heat and strain through a sieve, pressing on the fruit with a spoon to extract as much raspberry juice as possible, about 2/3 c.
  2. Into the raspberry syrup, stir in 2 T. lemon juice and 1 T. gelatin. Pour syrup back into sauce pan and place back over medium heat, whisk until gelatin is dissolved. Do NOT boil. Remove from heat and cool to room temp.
  3. Line a 9" springform pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F.
  4. In the bowl of a mixer with the whisk attachment on high speed, beat 4 eggs for 1 minute.
  5. Gradually add 2/3 c. sugar and continue beating on high 7 mins. until thick and 3-4 times in volume.
  6. Stir together cake flour and baking powder then sift flour into whipped eggs in 2 additions, folding to incorporate between each addition. Scrape from the bottom to catch any hidden pockets of flour and fold just until incorporated- don't over mix.
  7. Pour into springform pan and bake for 23-25 minutes or until top is golden and springs back when poked lightly.
  8. Remove cake from pan. Remove parchment paper and cool cake to room temp.
  9. Slice the cake in half horizontally.
  10. Cover walls of springform pan with plastic wrap, do not cover bottom of pan.
  11. Trim off 1/2" all around the edges of both cake layers and place the first layer into the bottom of your springform pan.
  12. Trim about 1/2" off one end of all lady fingers.
  13. Place lady fingers in a tight ring, cut-side-down, around the cake base.
  14. Brush cake with 1/3 simple syrup. Brush backs of lady fingers with 1/3 of syrup as well.
  15. Spread 1-1/2 T. raspberry preserves over cake.
  16. With the whisk attachment, beat 3 cups heavy cream with 6 T confectioner's sugar on high speed until thick and spreadable.
  17. Remove 1-1/2 c. of whipped cream to a piping bag, fitted with a star attachment (optional) and refrigerate to use as topping later.
  18. Once raspberry gelatin mixture is completely at room temp (don't wait too long or it will thicken and become difficult to blend), fold it into remaining big batch of whipped cream adding 1/4 gelatin mixture at a time and folding between each addition. This is the mousse.
  19. Spread 1/2 of the mousse over cake layer inside the springform pan. 
  20. Top with second cake layer, brush with remaining simple syrup and spread with 1-1/2 T, raspberry preserves.
  21. Add remaining mousse.
  22. Spread, or pipe, remaining whipped cream on top.
  23. Decorate with fresh raspberries and mint leaves.
  24. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, about 3 hours or overnight.
  25. To serve, remove springform walls and plastic wrap.
  26. Enjoy!!

Results: This was a lot of work but well worth it, especially for a special occasion. The gelatin mixture became to thick and I had difficult blending it into the whipped cream. Also,because it was red lumps looked liked blood clots---gross. I worked really hard to get rid of those. LOL. I haven't mastered the skill of cutting a single layer in half horizontally yet. Needless to say, the layers were not equal. I used the trimmed pieces to fill in the gaps. I made the mistake of putting plastic wrap on the bottom of the springform pan, as well as the sides. It was a mess pulling it off. The good news-- when you put it all together no one sees any of the mistakes. ; )

Bottom Line: I will definitely keep this recipe. It was delicious!

Please share this blog with anyone named Charlotte or just anyone. Thanks.


Comments

Post a Comment