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Sharlotka
Charlotte Russe
Sharlotka
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Ingredients
20-25 sponge fingers or boudoir biscuits
6 egg yolks
120 g sugar
350 ml milk
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
2 teaspoons gelatine softened in 3 tablespoons water
½ cup cold sour cream
½ cup cold whipped cream
RASPBERRY OR STRAWBERRY PUREE
1 kg fruit
2 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup Kirsch or other berry liqueur
Details
Serves: 9
Method
1. Choose a charlotte mould or the largest round cake tin available. Line the bottom with biscuits which have been shaped so that they are wider at one end than the other.
2. Arrange so that tapered end is towards the middle or so biscuits overlap and there are no gaps. Stand the remainder of the biscuits vertically, close together so that there are no gaps.
3. In a mixing bowl, beat egg yolks till thick, add sugar and continue beating vigorously until mixture is a thick but runny consistency. Heat milk with added vanilla until the first small bubbles appear on the side of the saucepan. Immediately but slowly, pour milk into egg mixture continually beating. Then return mixture to saucepan. Scrape pan with wooden spoon or a spatula. Heat again stirring constantly until it thickens. Do not boil.
4. Remove custard from heat. Add gelatine mixture and stir well so that it dissolves. Whip creams until thick and stir into custard.
5. Cover bowl with a cloth and refrigerate for 30 minutes, stirring a few times until custard is the consistency of cold honey. Pour this mixture into the biscuit mould. Refrigerate overnight.
6. To make puree, place fruit in a large mixing bowl and squash with the back of a mixing spoon or spatula. Cover with sugar to taste and add liqueur. Cover with greaseproof paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours until the sugar has been coloured by the fruit.
7. To serve, if the custard did not fill biscuit mould, then top up with fruit puree. Otherwise serve separately.
8. Invert the serving plate on top of the mould and flip both over to invert. The mould should come off easily unless there were cracks in the biscuit mould and custard has stuck to the side. In that case, use a wet knife to ease off any difficult areas. To reinforce the free standing mould, tie a 10 cm wide red ribbon around the Charlotte and finish with a big bow.
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