Strawberry charlotte Cake

Strawberry charlotte cake is one of the best-known strawberry-based desserts, after fraisier cake and strawberry tart. It’s a light and refreshing cake that is easy to make for any occasions. it’s delightful to have a savorous and light dessert to finish the dinner off on a good note. It can be served as a snack or as a birthday cake.

In the previous article, I showed you how to make the ladyfinger “biscuit cuillère”, Here’s how to put the recipe into practice by making a pretty strawberry charlotte cake.

It’s not strawberry season, but the principe is the same with other fruit coulis. You can also make it with pasteurized strawberry coulis or other fruits. I’ll tell you more about it below.

charlotte cake with berries - charlotte with strawberries - pastry recipe

Table of Contents

The origins of strawberry charlotte cake

I always thought it was a French dessert because the strawberry charlotte cake is so well known and famous in France. There are so many variations of charlotte in France that I never imagined it was of British origin. In fact, charlotte takes its famous name from Queen Charlotte, wife of George III king of the United Kingdom in the 19th century.

French version of Charlotte cake

Version of charlotte we’re all familiar with today was actually invented in 1800 by a French pastry chef named Antonin Carême. The latter, then on duty in the English monarch’s kitchens, decided to change the recipe slightly, replacing the brioche with ladyfingers and adding Bavarian cream.

Source : Marie-claire magazin

Many variations of the charlotte can be made after the strawberry charlotte cake such as

Vanilla and seasonal fruit charlotte cake
Chocolate and pear charlotte cake
Chocolate Charlotte cake
Apple Charlotte cake
Lemon Charlotte cake

and so many others…

How to make a strawberry charlotte cake

You’ll need homemade or store-bought ladyfingers.
Vanilla simple syrup for soaking
vanilla mousse made with Bavarian cream or strawberry mousse
Strawberry pieces

You can add pieces of strawberry to the mousse when it’s in season. You can simply enjoy the mousse without any fruits inside, it’s just as delicious. I added a few raspberries because I wanted to freeze the charlotte cake and raspberries freeze very well, unlike strawberries.

If you put strawberries inside, let the charlotte firm up in the fridge. Prepare the day before, preferably for the next day.

strawberry shortcake recipe - easy homemade charlotte cake recipe

Easy strawberry charlotte cake

Which Cookies to use?

You can make this strawberry charlotte cake with store-bought lady fingers “biscuit à la cuillère” Also known as savoiardi or sponge fingers. Don’t confuse them with “boudoirs”, which are very dry and need to be soaked. The ladyfingers are sponge cake cookies very soft.

I advise you to make them at home, it’s a very simple recipe that will not only be useful for making charlottes cake but also other pastries. I use the ladyfingers in entremets and tiramisu and other pastries But it remains especially the flagship biscuit for making charlotte cakes. The lady finger biscuits in the shape of sticks are delicious with a cup of coffee, just like in our childhood.

I use fresh or frozen strawberry and raspberry coulis, but you can also buy it in brick form. Bricks are usually one liter, which is what I do, weighing out in portions that I freeze for up to 6 months.

I use this kind : strawberry purée

Fruit coulis cap fruits

You can also see the vanilla and raspberry charlotte with a vanilla bavarian mousse.

The recipe steps by steps on video

recipe charlotte layer cake mousse strawberry raspberry eggless

Preparation steps :

NB: For full details of ingredients, see the recipe card below, which you can print out.

For a 22 cm x 7 cm (8.5 in x 3 in) Charlotte

The ladyfingers “biscuits à la cuillère”

You can see the recipe with more pictures and the video on the article : Ladyfingers

Make 2 strips of glued lady fingers “cartouchières” for the side each 35 cm by 8 cm (14 in by 3,2 in) and 2 circles of 18 cm (7 in) in diameter for the bottom (You can make them day before).

1. Draw 2 strips measuring 35 cm (14 in) by 8 cm (3.2 in). Turn the sheet over onto the buttered baking sheet, with the design against the sheet.

design for glued lady fingers for charlotte cake
2. Place egg whites in bowl of the stand mixer and whisk at medium speed.

3. When frothy, add 1/3 of the sugar without stopping the stand mixer.

4. Increase speed slightly.

5. Add half the remaining sugar when they have risen but are not yet very firm.

6. When they are almost firm, add the remaining sugar to tighten them and increase the speed to maximum.

7. Stop as soon as they are firm and smooth until stiff peak. They have to make a bird’s beak on top the whisk.

8. Add the egg yolks and mix gently with a rubber spatula to prevent the meringue from collapsing.
charlotte recipe with homemade sponge cake
9. Add the sifted flour all at once. Gently fold in the mixture, lifting and turning the bowl. Scrape the bottom to blend everything together.
Do not mix or whisk vigorously. The batter must remain frothy, do not try to smooth it.

10. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip of 10 or 12 mm.

homemade strawberry charlotte cake
Preheat oven to 180°C ( 350°F) fan-assisted or 200°C ( 400° F ) static heat.

11. Arrange sticks, side by side. Leave a slight gap between them; they should be almost touching. You can space them about 2 mm apart, will stick together as they swell.

12. Make 2 circles of 18 cm in diameter

13. Sprinkle 2 times, at 5-minute intervals, with a thin veil of powdered sugar. You can leave them unsprinkled if you want them smooth and not pearly (a crunchy, pearly layer on top).

strawberry charlotte sponge cake 14. Bake 10 to 12 min.

15. Open the oven halfway through cooking to allow steam to escape and close immediately. This prevents the cookies from falling and cracking.

16. They should be lightly browned to keep them soft. Below, they’re a little more golden than they need to be.

17. Carefully remove from parchment paper as soon as they hold together a little, to avoid breaking them. The cookies are nicely pearlescent and super soft. Leave to cool down.

sponge cake lady fingers for strawberry charlotte cake

Simple syrup for soaking

1. Combine water, sugar and vanilla sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat as soon as the sugar has completely dissolved, without boiling to avoid evaporation.

2. Allow to cool
Syrup for sponge cake , spoon cookies, birthday cake

Making the strawberry mousse

1. Rehydrate gelatin sheets in very cold water for 10 min.

2. Mix strawberry and raspberry coulis with sugar and lemon juice.

3. Heat without boiling

4. Remove from heat and add the well-drained gelatin.

5. Mix well and filter through a sieve

6. Leave to cool, thicken slightly but do not allow the coulis to gel.

You can speed up the cooling process by placing the bowl of coulis in an ice water bath.
red fruit coulis for strawberry mousse
7. Whip the well-chilled heavy cream to soft peaks gradually add in the powdered sugar. Continue whisking until you obtain a firm, but not too stiff whipped cream.

8. Add the cold coulis in 3 or 4 additions, mixing gently with a spatula. The colder the coulis (not jellied) and the firmer the whipped cream, the firmer the mousse will be.
I make my mousse fairly frothy, not too firm.

9. Move on to assembly

strawberry charlotte - eggless strawberry mousse

Assembly :

I place a strip of rhodoïd (acetate sheet) in the adjustable cake ring, but it’s optional.

1. Adjust the bottom glued ladyfingers strips, place them in the mold, and trim off the excess on the side. Adjust the sponge-cookie discs to fit inside the mold once the rectangular strips are placed in the mold.

Charlotte assembly with spoon cookies -Strawberry charlotte

2. Soak the sponge-cookie disc with the cold syrup (you can use store-bought strawberry syrup).

3. Pour in half the strawberry mousse.

4. Insert raspberries or strawberries (if in season) , generously garnish.

5. Soak the second sponge cake disc and place on top of the mousse.

6. Press down lightly and pour in the remaining strawberry-raspberry mousse.

7. Place in the freezer until the day of tasting, or just until the mousse sets.

Just leave to set in the fridge for at least 3 h, or preferably overnight.

strawberry charlotte assembly

The raspberry mirror (for a nice red color)

To prepare once the charlotte is ready

1. Rehydrate the gelatin in a volume of cold water for 10 min (the water should cover the gelatin well).

2. Heat the raspberry coulis with the sugar and a few drops of lemon without boiling. All you need to do is dissolve the sugar and get it hot enough to melt the gelatin.

3. Off the heat, add the well-drained gelatin and mix well.

4. Filter through a sieve

5. Allow to cool, but do not allow to set

charlotte strawberry recipe

Decoration

1. Remove charlotte from fridge or freezer

2. Unmold and coat the top with the coulis.

If you’re not going to cover the top with strawberries, don’t use a spoon to spread the coulis.

3. Pour it in and move the charlotte cake to spread it over the entire surface. This way, it will be perfect.

4. Decorate with strawberry pieces to taste.

5. Remove the rhodoid (acetate sheet ) and decorate with a ribbon. Let it to thaw in the refrigerator if you had frozen it, for approximately 6 hours, more or less.

Strawberry and raspberry charlotte with raspberry mirror