Charlotte Russe

For a change I did not make a Charlotte Royal but her sister Charlotte Russe. This dessert had been invented by the French chef Marie Antoine Carême (1784-1833), who named it in honour of his Russian employer Czar Alexander I (Russe is French for Russian).

The fists stage of this dessert requires more the qualities of a mason than of a pastry cook. You have to arrange ladyfingers seamlessly in a mould, which involves a lot of accurate rasping.



I dared to divide slightly from the original recipe by using raspberry jam rolls for both top and bottom.



The filling is like in the Charlotte royal a Bavarian cream...



... however, for the Charlotte Royal one is supposed to use cherry brandy (Kirsch), for the Charlotte Russe Maraschino (Marasca cherry cordial) is used. Of course, we have both on stock - the Kirsch though is home-distilled by my clan.



The Charlotte Russe can't deny its Russian heritage. It clearly resembles both an Ushanka and a Papakhi.