Happy May! My favourite month of Spring is here. It's the time when the weather starts getting warmer and it almost feels like summer is here, but not really. Also, the month where all my allergies hit (end of April to be precise) and when fruit like strawberries are in season. Running around my neighbourhood yesterday I admired some of the flowers on my way and explored different paths of the forest next to my house. I live in a small town or village (dorf) 15 minutes outside of Zurich and I feel that everything is slower and calmer here. There is a big forest here where I go whenever I want to connect with nature or simply a quiet place to think. You can hear only the singing of birds and the breeze from the wind that it instantly calms you down.
My friends know me as this romantic girl that always thinks of Paris and lives in her bubble. Which I have to admit is true. I'm more of an idealist, if not romantic, in the sense that I believe in values and ideas that shape the world we live in. I also believe in cake! Cake can bring people together, can lighten up your mood and can bring out the creative mind you have. Experimenting is something I like to do, with some caution. When I saw a video in youtube of a french girl preparing a strawberry charlotte, I knew this was my next recipe to make.
This dessert is so elegant, like a French woman sipping on her café au lait, while she's reading french poetry and fixing her lipstick. As most french desserts, this is a tough one. There are different versions, but the classic one is made using savoiardi cookies (lady fingers) and a strawberry custard cream. If you like desserts with berries, then this is a good choice for you. It is light, fruity and very creamy.
The most difficult part of this dessert is placing the lady fingers around the cake pan that you will use. I suggest you use a small pan , if you have one. I used the normal one I use also for cakes, but this meant more lady fingers I had to make stand tall and not collapse. But in the end I was rewarded with a beautiful and tasty dessert that looked amazing.
Strawberry Charlotte
ingredients
15 to 25 savoiardi cookies (more or less depending on the size of your pan)
400ml heavy cream (at least 35%)
500gr fresh strawberries
4 gelatin leaves
5 tablespoons icing sugar (powdered)
1 tablespoon strawberry liqueur or amaretto
topping
250ml whipped cream
berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries)
how do I make it?
1. First step, fill a bowl with cold water and place the gelatin leaves inside and let aside. Wash your strawberries really well and then keep 8 that are firm for later. Cut the rest in half, while taking their top off as well, and put them in a food processor. Pulse in high speed until you get a juicy pulp from the strawberries.
2. Pour half of the strawberry pulp in a small pot and heat over medium fire. Put the other half pulp in a bowl for later Take the gelatin leaves from the water with your hands and squeeze the water out of them. Then, put them in the heated pot and mix with a spoon to get them completely liquid. After 2 minutes take the pot out of the heat and pour the pulp into the bowl with the other pulp (which is cold) and mix very well.
3. In a big bowl pour inside the heavy cream and the icing sugar and beat in high speed until you get a whipped cream. By then, soft peaks will have appeared in your mixture and the whipped cream should be light and airy. Save four tablespoons of the strawberry pulp in a bowl for later and pour in a tablespoon of liquer.
4. Start adding the remaining strawberry pulp into the bowl with the whipped cream little by little. Use a rubber spatula to very slowly mix everything together. You don't want to make rough or quick moves as the whipped cream will loose its air and you will end up with a flat mixture in your cake.
5. Assembly of the savoiardi begins! For this you can use a medium to small round pan with removable sides, as it will be easier to put the cookies, but you will get a smaller dessert. Your choice! Start by taking a cookie and dipping it in the bowl (from the bottom side) with the strawberry and liquer. Place the first cookie completely standing tall on the side of the pan if you can or let it have an angle for the beginning and you fix it later when you get cookies at the bottom as well. Repeat the dipping and placement of the next cookie right next to where you places the other and continue repeating the step until you have covered the sides of the pan. Then do the same with the bottom of the cake, placing the cookies laying down until you cover the whole bottom as well. Now is the time if your savoiardi at the sides are not standing completely tall to fix them by adjusting the savoiardi at the bottom. It sounds pretty difficult, but it is totally worth it. You want your cookies at the sides to be touching each other and almost squeezing. If you have a void between them then you won't be able to transfer the cake to a plate later and perhaps won't get a stable cake.
6. When the placement of cookies is complete, cut the 8 strawberries you kept in step one and add them into the strawberry cream you made in step 4. Then, pour the cream into the bottom of the pan making sure it covers the sides. Then, in a large bowl again beat 250ml of heavy cream into whipped cream again and pour it on top. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours before serving. When you want to serve you can decorate the charlotte with more berries on top!
No comments :
Post a Comment