Strawberry Charlotte

I stumbled across a picture of this Strawberry Charlotte on Instagram, and was taken in by how absolutely gorgeous it was. With a lot of sleuthing and the help of Google Translate, I uncovered the recipe and gave it a try a few weekends ago. It’s a keeper: easy, make ahead, the most stunning strawberries and cream flavour- the perfect summer pudding!

Strawberry Charlotte

250g strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped (for the coulis)

50g caster sugar

5 sheets of gelatine

36 ladyfinger biscuits

400ml thickened (whipping) cream

250g mascarpone

100g powdered sugar

2tsp vanilla extract

150ml whole milk

500g strawberries, hulled and diced

250g-500g whole strawberries, to serve

1. Place the strawberries for the coils in a blender or food processor and blend until as smooth as possible. Pass the mixture through a sieve and into a small saucepan, to get rid of any seeds. Add the sugar to the saucepan.

2. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so the juice doesn’t burn.

3. In the meantime, place the gelatine leaves in a bowl and cover with cold water. Soak for 5 minutes.

4. Remove the coulis from the heat, squeeze the excess water out of the gelatine leaves and add to the coulis. Stir to dissolve. Pour the mixture into a bowl and place in the fridge to cool.

5. Line the base of a 20cm springform tin with baking paper.

6. In a large bowl, beat the thickened cream and mascarpone until you feel the cream begin to thicken and firm. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat to combine. Add the strawberry coulis mixture and beat until smooth. Set aside.

7. Pour the milk into a large, shallow bowl. Carefully dunk 1 side of a ladyfinger biscuit in the milk. You do not want the biscuit to fill absorb the mixture. Place the biscuit milk side up in the bottom of the tin. Repeat until you have lined the base of the tin, leaving room around the outside of the tin for the side biscuits.

8. Stand dry sticks side-by-side around the rim of the pan. Spread about 1/3 of the strawberry cream mixture across the bottom and smooth the top.

9. Add about 250g of the chopped strawberries, and gently press into the cream. Top with another third of the cream mixture. Add the other 250g of chopped berries. Finish with the final third of the cream mixture.

10. Finish the Charlotte with a layer of lightly milk-soaked biscuits.

11. Place in the fridge overnight. When you are ready to serve, gently remove the other ring from the pan. I would recommend tying a ribbon or some string around the outside of the Charlotte. Not only does it look pretty but will stop any rogue biscuits from falling off the side as you move the Charlotte around.

12. Fill the top with the whole berries for dramatic effect and serve!

Heidi xx