Charlotte Russe is simply a cream mixture, molded, with cake on the outside. It is easily made and always liked. Charlotte pans are oval, but any plain, round mold, or a kitchen basin with sides not too slanting, or individual molds may be used.
[Sidenote: General directions.]
First place on the bottom of the pan an oiled paper which is cut to fit it neatly; then arrange lady-fingers evenly around the sides, or instead of lady-fingers use strips of layer sponge cake, No. 1 (page 466), or of Genoese (page 467). Cut the strips one or one and a half inches wide, and fit them closely together. Fill the center with any of the mixtures given below, and let it stand an hour or more to harden.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLOTTE RUSSE MADE WITH LADY FINGERS.]
[Sidenote: Ornamentation.]
[Sidenote: Cake in two colors.]
[Sidenote: Icing in two colors.]
[Sidenote: Decorating the top.]
A sheet of cake cut to fit the top may, or may not, be used.
If cake is used it is better to place it on the Charlotte after it is unmolded and the paper removed. The layer cake should be one quarter or three eighths of an inch thick only.
Charlottes can be ornamented in many ways, and made very elaborate if desired. A simple decoration is obtained by having the strips of cake in two colors, alternating the upper, or browned, with the under, or white, side of the cake.
For the top, cut a piece of cake to the right shape. Then cut it transversely, making even, triangular pieces, with the width at the base the same as the side strips. Turn over each alternate piece to give the two colors (see ill.u.s.tration); or, ice the strips and the top piece of cake with royal icing (see ill.u.s.tration) in two colors. Let the icing harden before placing it in the mold. Have the sides, as well as the bottom, of the mold lined with paper. Arrange the strips in the mold with the colors alternating. Instead of using cake for the top, some of the filling mixture can be put into a pastry-bag, and pressed through a tube over the top in fancy forms.
Meringue or whipped cream may also be used for decorating the top.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLOTTE RUSSE WITH CAKE ARRANGED IN STRIPS OF TWO COLORS. (SEE PAGE 404.)]
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLOTTE RUSSE WITH STRIPS OF CAKE ICED IN TWO COLORS.
(SEE PAGE 404.)]
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLOTTE RUSSE MADE OF ONE LAYER OF CAKE--TOP DECORATED WITH DOTS OF ICING.]
=CHARLOTTE RUSSE FILLING No. 1=
Whip a pint of cream to a stiff froth. Soak a half ounce of gelatine in three tablespoonfuls of cold water for half an hour; then dissolve it with two tablespoonfuls of boiling water. Add to the whipped cream a tablespoonful of powdered sugar (or a little more if liqueurs are not used for flavoring), and two dessertspoonfuls of noyau or other liqueur, or a teaspoonful of vanilla. Then turn in slowly the dissolved gelatine, beating all the time. When it begins to stiffen turn it into a mold which is lined with cake.
=CHARLOTTE RUSSE FILLING No. 2=
Beat well together two yolks of eggs and a half tablespoonful of sugar.
Scald a half cupful of milk, and stir it into the beaten yolks; add a dash of salt, and return it to the double boiler. Stir it over the fire until it coats the spoon, thus making a plain boiled custard. Add to the hot custard a level tablespoonful of Cooper"s gelatine, which has soaked for half an hour in four tablespoonfuls of cold water; stir until the gelatine is dissolved, then strain it into a bowl, add two tablespoonfuls of sherry (or use any flavoring desired) and the whipped whites of two eggs; beat until it just begins to thicken, then mix in lightly a pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth, and turn into the mold.
=CHARLOTTE RUSSE FILLING No. 3 (Fruit)=
Soak an ounce of gelatine in a half cupful of cold water for half an hour. Make a syrup of one cupful of sugar, a half cupful of lemon-juice, and two cupfuls of orange-juice. When it has become a light syrup, turn it slowly onto the beaten yolks of four eggs, beating all the time.
Return it to the double boiler, and cook until it is a little thickened, then add the gelatine. When the gelatine is dissolved, strain and beat until it is cold; add the whites of four eggs, and beat until it stiffens, then turn it into the mold. A pint of whipped cream may be used instead of the whipped whites of the eggs if convenient. In place of orange and lemon-juice, any fruit may be used. Stew the fruit until tender, add enough sugar to sweeten, and cook it to a light syrup; then press the fruit through a sieve, and to two and a half cupfuls of fruit syrup or of fruit pulp add the four eggs, and proceed as directed for the orange filling.
=CHARLOTTE RUSSE FILLING, No. 4=
Use any of the plain or fruit Bavarian creams.
=CHARLOTTE RUSSE FILLING No. 5=
Use whipped jelly plain, or whipped jelly with fruits, called macedoine of fruits (see page 417).
=TIMBALE OF BRIOCHE=
Bake a brioche (see page 359) in a cylindrical mold. Cut a straight slice off the top about one inch thick; replace the cake in the tin, and carefully pick out the center of the loaf, leaving a thickness of one inch of the brioche. Spread the inside with a layer of jam. Put in a saucepan the liquor from a can of apricots or peaches. Stir into it two tablespoonfuls of arrowroot, moistened with a little water, and stir over the fire until the juice is thickened and clear. Fill the center of the brioche with the drained fruit, mixed with blanched almonds and raisins; pour over it the thickened syrup, replace the cover. When set turn it onto a dish; spread the outside with a little jam, and sprinkle with chopped blanched almonds. This makes a very simple and wholesome sweet.
=CHARLOTTE PRINCESSE de GALLES=
Take eight Carlsbad wafers of oblong shape. Stand them on end around the outside of a cylindrical mold, and carefully stick the edges together with sugar cooked to the crack, or with royal icing (see page 483). Make the octagon as regular as possible. When the edges are well set place it on a foundation either of puff-paste or of layer cake cut to the shape of the form. Ornament it with dots of royal icing pressed through a pastry-bag and tube onto the edges. Just before serving fill the center with whipped cream, or with czarina cream, or with whipped jelly and fruits, or whipped jelly and meringue, or with any of the mousses. The wafers quickly loose their crispness, so the form must not be filled until the moment of serving.
A filling may also be made for this Charlotte of any of the Charlotte Russe mixtures, molding them in a form smaller than the form of wafers, and when unmolded the ornamental form placed over it, and whipped cream piled on top. In this way the wafers will not be softened.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLOTTE PRINCESSE DE GALLES. (SEE PAGE 406.)]
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLOTTE PRINCESSE DE GALLES MADE OF ROLLED GAUFFRES.
(SEE PAGE 406.)]
=STRAWBERRY CHARLOTTE=
Cut large firm strawberries in two lengthwise; dip them in liquid gelatine, and line a plain mold, placing the flat side against the mold. If the mold is on ice the jelly will harden at once, and hold the berries in place. Fill the center with Charlotte filling No. 1, or with Bavarian cream, or with pain de fraises.
=GaTEAU ST. HONORe=
This is a combination of puff-paste, cream cakes, glace fruits, and whipped cream. It is said to be the triumph of the chef"s art, yet one need not fear to undertake it when one has learned to make good pastry and to boil sugar. It is an ornamental, delicious dessert, and one that can be presented on the most formal occasions. First: Roll thin a very short or a puff-paste, so when baked it will be one quarter of an inch thick only. Cut it the size of a layer-cake tin; place it on a dampened baking-tin, and p.r.i.c.k it with a fork in several places. Second: make a cream-cake batter (see page 474); put the batter in a pastry-bag with half inch tube, and press out onto and around the edge of the paste a ring of the batter. With the rest of the batter make a number of small cakes (two dozen), forming them with the tube into b.a.l.l.s one half inch in diameter. Brush the ring and b.a.l.l.s with egg, and bake in a quick oven; then fill them with St. Honore cream (see below). Third: boil a cupful of sugar to the crack, and glace some orange sections and some white grapes (see glace fruits, page 516). Fourth: with some of the sugar used for the fruits stick the small cream cakes onto the ring, making an even border; on top of each cake stick a grape, and between them a section of orange. Place a candied cherry on each piece of orange, and one below it, if there is room. Other candied fruits and angelica may be used also, if desired, and arranged in any way to suit the fancy. Fifth: make a St. Honore cream as follows: scald one cupful of milk in a double boiler; turn it slowly onto the yolks of six eggs, which have been well beaten with one and one half tablespoonfuls of corn-starch and a cupful of powdered sugar. Return to the fire until it begins to thicken or coats the spoon, then remove, and flavor with one teaspoonful each of vanilla and noyau, and stir in lightly the whites of eight eggs beaten very stiff. Cook it one minute to set the whites, beating all the time. When cold, turn it into the gateau. Whipped cream may or may not be piled on top of the St. Honore cream.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GaTEAU ST. HONORe. (SEE PAGE 407.)]
=CROQUENBOUCHE OF MACAROONS=
Oil the outside of a dome-shaped mold. Beginning at the bottom, cover it with macaroons, sticking the edges of the macaroons together with sugar boiled to the crack, or with royal icing (see page 483). Just before serving turn it off the mold, and place it over a form of plain or fruit Bavarian cream, which has been hardened in a smaller mold of the same shape. There should be an inch or more of s.p.a.ce between the two, the outer one covering the other like a cage.
A croquenbouche can also be made of little cakes cut from a layer cake with a small biscuit-cutter, and iced in two colors with royal icing, or with glace oranges, or with chestnuts. The latter are difficult to make, but are very good with ice-creams.
WHIPPED CREAM
[Sidenote: General directions.]
[Sidenote: Temperature.]