Strawberry Charlotte with Roses de Reims Biscuits for La Fete National!

For La Fete Nationale , or Bastille Day as we English speakers call it,  I made a Strawberry Biscuit Roses de Reims Charlotte with Glaceed Angelica gifted to me most generously by Isabelle White at Histoire Sucree - the most divine place to buy beautiful and exquisite French confections - nougat, calissons, marrons glace, the list goes on and deliciously on.

A beautiful pink boite de biscuits and gorgeous glaceed angelica.

 

A close up of the candied angelica, technically known as Angelica Archangelica - what a cool name!! - I thought to myself as I beheld this delight - it reminds me of celery - and it has the stringy ribs like celery and sure enough, now I did some research, I find it is indeed called wild celery - it is a medicinal plant and is used to flavour various liqueurs including Chartreuse. The flavour is hard to describe but it is distinct and tastes particularly good when eaten with whipped cream - the combination somehow transcends the sum of the two parts. 

It is not hard to make this celebratory dessert but it is time consuming and preferably you should make it one day ahead to allow the strawberry mousse to set up nicely - I had quite the palaver making mine as the weather was atrociously humid causing great concern over fluffing of meringue/marshmallow and curdling of creams but I prevailed and everything turned out well as you can see.

To begin with you should have Roses de Reims biscuits available and if you don't have them to hand Ladyfingers will suffice in a trice - if you don't happen to have angelica either any candied fruit would be nice - whatever you think would taste well with strawberry mousse.

Let's make the cake first - just a small 6" thin disk to help be the foundation of our Charlotte - this should be made the day before to harden a little overnight and develop flavour the way cake does so well.

CAKE: Enough for one 6" shallow cake which should be buttered and floured ready for use - pre-heat oven to 350F

2oz/half a stick soft butter

2oz/ 1/2 cup white flour

2oz /scant 1/3 cup sugar

1 egg whisked lightly 

2 tablespoons cocoa powder sifted with the flour

1. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy and light.

2. Add egg in 3 goes and beat well between each addition.

3. Resift flour and cocoa powder into the batter and fold until blended.

4. Put batter into prepared pan and smooth.

5. Bake for about 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

6. Allow to cool completely and put in a tin overnight.

STRAWBERRY SAUCE:

1lb strawberries - the best you can find - sliced 

1oz/ 1/8 cup sugar

Toss strawberries with sugar - then cook for about 20 minutes until the juices run and they start to thicken - allow to cool and then liquidize to a nice vivid red sauce.

STRAWBERRY MOUSSE:

4oz / 1/2 cup strawberry puree

3 tablespoons/ 1 1/2 ozs butter 

In the top of a double boiler melt these 2 ingredients together - allow to cool - set aside

2 egg yolks

1oz/ 1/8 cup sugar

In the top of a double boiler whisk these together until they resemble thick mayonnaise - take off the heat and continue whisking until cool - set aside

2 egg whites
 

5 ozs/ heaped 1/3 cup sugar
 

large pinch cream of tartar
 

  4 tablespoons hot water.

1. Put all 4 ingredients in a large bowl set over a pan of lightly simmering water - don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water or the eggs will cook.

2. Whisk like crazy until the mixture forms soft peaks, and at this point it should be quite hot to the touch making your eggs safe if you are using commercial eggs.

3. Take the bowl off the heat and keep whisking until cool and about this thick:

Whip 4 fl ozs heavy/double cream with 2 tablespoons sugar
 

TO ASSEMBLE MOUSSE: Fold the strawberry puree very gently into the whipped cream, then fold in the whipped egg yolks and finally the whisked egg whites - I didn't add any gelatin as I don't like to use it but it could have done with some kind of thickening agent like gelatin or agar agar, which is much trickier to use especially with dairy ingredients - I packet of unflavoured gelatin used as per manufacturers instructions would work for this amount of strawberry mousse.
 

THE CHARLOTTE:

6oz chocolate chips melted in the top of a double boiler.

1. Place the chocolate cake on your presentation plate and cover with the strawberry sauce you didn't use in the mousse.

Now dip the bottoms of the Roses de Reims biscuits or Ladyfingers one by one in the chocolate and stand smartly around the chocolate cake thus:

Ahhh...my little Stonehenge dessert :) I forgot to take a photo but I now strew some of the glaceed angelica cut into small pieces atop the puree...

Allow chocolate to cool completely - you may need to do some stone mason work to help the biscuits stand and hold the mousse thus:

When the chocolate is cooled - by the way - don't cool the chocolate in the fridge or it will cloud and look unattractive! 

Now gently pour the mousse into the centre of the roses de Reims ring you have created:

At this point I would allow the mousse to sit and gel for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight.

And now for the fun cream furbelows and decorations - whip up some more sweetened cream and decorate to your hearts content, then add angelica, or glaceed/candied fruit of your choice in a pleasing pattern, and finally some nice, genteel dollops of the remaining strawberry puree - I would have added some sliced fresh strawberries too but with the humidity we have had lately the strawberries did not look good enough for decoration - the season seemed awfully short this year!!

ET VOILA!!!!!

Bonne fete mes amis Francais - s'il vous plaît excusez mon mauvais Français - from Maine, which is named after the French province of Maine 
and home to Acadian culture

 Merci beaucoup Isabelle - Patricia

A curated Mother's Day breakfast in bed - you have just enough time to pull it all together!

Doesn't your beloved Mum deserve breakfast in bed this coming Mother's Day Sunday May 12th - here's a smattering of items with links to help you pull it all together in a trice.

First of all get your Mum all comfy and cozy leaning against one of my own perfectly plumped pillows from Society6:

Next get your provisions in order - you'll notice only sweet treats are in order because that's what I would want :) - perhaps some Jammy Bakewell Flapjacks from Carrington Lane Bakery of Union, Maine:

 ...some Biscuits Roses from Histoire Sucree:

and some cupcakes from Aprilla Cakes of Casco, Maine:

but if you did have to have something non-sweet for your Mum's breakfast in bed you could get eggs from Farmetta Farm in Morrill, Maine :) - home of this chicken

  Then assemble a mug for your Mama's preferred libation, a coaster for said mug, a tray for said mug and coaster and a napkin/serviette:

Country Days Mug

From a selection of coasters and trays at my CafePress shop

Available HERE :)

Also give her a delightful and inspiring magazine to read, say perhaps British Country Living - subscription available HERE - best magazine in the world in my humble opinion :)

 ...and a stunning necklace to adorn her graceful throat from Jeweled Horizons

Later in the evening your Mater can relax in a luxurious bath and use her beautiful smooth as silk goat's milk soaps from compassionate goat farmer and soap maker in Winterport, Maine - Meadowfly Farm

...and before she goes to bed after a perfect day orchestrated by YOU you will call her on her mobile now adorned with a lovely case by yours truly :)

From my Society6 shop HERE

...and finally perhaps a Forever Bouquet of Flower prints from moi?

available in small and large sizes and in groups and individually too at my ETSY shop HERE

 Treat your MUM this Mother's Day!

Elaborate Pouding Antoinette aka Cabinet Pudding - to make for your beloved Mum for Mother's Day perchance?

Bonjour ma petite Pouding Antoinette - also heretofore known as Cabinet or Chancellor Pudding but renamed when adorned with furbelows of cream and magnificent glaceed fruit from Histoire Sucree - generously gifted to me by Isabelle White, owner of said online French confectionery store...ahhhhhh

I took my recipe from a charming little book called "Christmas Sweets and Holiday Treats" by Allison Kyle Leopold and made the recipe twice in order to refine it - the first time I didn't have the Histoire Suree delights to hand so I made my own candied orange peel and altered the recipe to work better the second time - when you are trying a recipe for the first time you really don't know what you'll get and I found the recipe as named above needed only half the cake amount but a full amount of the custard so if you are making something for the first time and want it to be perfect you should do a trial run before serving it at an important occasion - such as a Mother's Day dinner - I do think your Mum would love this so maybe do it for the US day Sunday May 12th.

There are a lot of steps involved but it is so worth the effort, each of the steps is relatively simple, and when you have decorated it with all the bells and whistles doesn't it look dreamy? Just like my idea of a dessert made for Queen Victoria who is believed to have been a great fan of said delight:)

So off we go...

Make the GENOISE CAKE first - I have learned a great trick to making this rise profusely which I have not been able to do until now, when I have made genoise before it has been almost as flat as a pancake!! So I am glad to be able to share it with you.

(You can use store bought genoise, or use lady fingers to reduce your time and possibility for error if you would like - you can even use a pound cake or sponge cake - of course the result will not be as light - but I bet will be just as delicious!!)

HAVE ALL YOUR INGREDIENTS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE AND BAKE ON A DRY DAY.

This recipe is for a pudding bowl that holds 32 fl oz of liquid and is 4" high by 6" diameter - it serves 4 portions for genteel people or for James and I, who like our puddings most enthusiastically, it serves 2!

THE CAKE:

2 large eggs separated

1/2 cup/ scant 4 ozs sugar

1/2 cup/ 2 ozs white flour sifted

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 teaspon grated orange rind

1 teaspoon orange juice or orange liqueur - your preference.

1. Preheat the oven to 350F

2. Butter and line a 10" square x 1" deep baking pan 

3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks then gradually add half the sugar until peaks are stiff but not dry.

4. Whisk the egg yolks with the other half of the sugar until light and fluffy (that's THE trick - don't just whisk the whites, whisk the yolks too and the sugar helps with the volume!!! TA DAH!!!!)

5. Fold the grated zests and liquid into the yolk mixture.

6. Fold the yolks in to the whites very gingerly until just combined.

7. Gently fold the flour into the egg mixture and mix very very delicately until blended.

8. Gently spread into your prepared pan and smooth the top - the batter doesn't spread during baking so if you want a smooth top you need to do that before it goes in the oven.

9. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until golden in colour and springy to the touch. 

10. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan - then invert onto a surface and peel off the paper - don't worry if some of the sponge surface comes off with the paper - the cosmetic look of the sponge is irrelevant in the final pudding.

The next bit is a bit tricky as you need to cut two circles from the flat, cooled sponge to fit one in the bottom of your chosen pudding bowl and one at the top of the bowl - so a small one for the bottom - you can guesstimate this by holding the bowl over the sponge and gingerly marking a circle that you think will be a good size to fit in the bottom of the bowl - for the top layer turn the bowl upside down and mark a circle that is smaller by about 1/4" than the top circumference of the bowl - you do not need to be precise and the edges of the circles can be raggedy as above - the middle layer can be comprised of two halves of the rest of the sponge after cutting the top and bottom circles. and you can use torn pieces of the leftovers to fill in any gaps when you are assembling the pudding.

 Phew!!!

Next make the custard:

3 egg yolks

3/8 cup/3 ozs white sugar 

1 1/4 cups/ 6 fl ozs heavy/double cream

1 tablespoon marmalade 2 teaspoons orange juice

1. Heat the cream to just below boiling point - do not let it boil.

2. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar.

3. Temper the yolks by adding a bit of the hot cream and mixing all the time with a wire whisk

and repeat a few times until you are adding the last of the hot cream. Return to the pan over the heat and heat gently stirring all the time until the custard thickens to coat the back of a spoon:

Allow custard to cool - whisk occasionally so you don't get a skin - put into a pouring jug.

Next butter and line your bowl with grease proof paper - thus - again doesn't have to be perfect or smooth - as you can see mine certainly wasn't :)

...then start assembling your pudding... 

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING:

Jar of preferred marmalade - first time I made this I chose Bonne Maman which was very good, second time I found this gorgeous blood orange marmalade by Crofters - highly recommended!! I don't specify an amount as it will depend upon your taste for marmalade.

2ozs candied orange peel - chopped

2 ozs candied ginger - chopped

(You'll need the same amount again of orange peel and ginger for decoration)

(In the first version of the pudding I made I used my own homemade candied orange peel - it was good but the candied orange peel from Histoire Sucree was AMAZING - so soft and clear - put mine to shame - same was true of the candied ginger from Histoire Sucree - it is quite astonishing in it's tooth and visual clarity)

My homemade glaceed orange peel and crystallized ginger from the Belfast Food Coop

Now to put this all together: Have oven ready at 350F

Put one layer of sponge in the bottom of the bowl

Cover with a slather of chosen marmalade as much or as little as you like

Cover with chopped ginger and orange peel:

Put a second layer of sponge - comprised of halves or bits of leftover sponge after cutting out the top and bottom circles.

Repeat other two steps above.

Finish with biggest circle of sponge on the top.

NOW: Pour the custard gently over all of the pudding and allow it to soak in before putting into a bain marie/water bath with hot water about 2 inches up the side of the bowl:

 Bob into the oven and bake for about 1 1/2 hours until puffed up and the top is golden brown - do check the custard has solidified though - the first one I took out thinking it was ready and inverted onto a plate and all the custard ran out so I had to finagle getting it back in the bowl and baking for another 15 minutes - so when you take it out put your oven gloves on and push the sponge aside and tip the bowl to see if you see any liquid custard - if not take out, if you do return for another 15 minutes.

When it is ready take out of the water bath and allow to cool to room temperature before inverting onto a pretty plate.

Now cover as you will in fluffy pretty furbelows of Chantilly Cream - ie cream whipped with sugar to taste to soft peaks - get your piping bag out and go crazy and if you're lucky enough you'll have some Histoire Sucree delights to hand to make your Pouding Antoinette look fit for a Queen!!!

Isabelle sent to me Marrons Glace to die for, crystallized roses and violets that REALLY tasted of such in a beautiful delicate and non-soapy way, sugared mint leaves, candied/glaceed ginger and orange peel, glaceed calamondin orange - my favourite of the glaceed fruit - very intense and sublime, kiwi, apricot, peach and a perfect whole seckle pear, sugared almonds - that tasted just like the ones from my childhood, crystallized mimosa balls that brought back the memory of a little sweet shop toy I had as a child where they gave you mimosa balls as part of the items in the shop - those were the days!!! and silver dragees - this is the assortment I used on the pudding:

...and here is a picture of the first Antoinette I made when it was still called Cabinet Pudding - before it's ascendence to celestial and the marriage of France and England, who I've always thought of as great friends!!! in the sublimity of a divine pudding now called Antoinette:)

 ...more of Antoinette for you to swoon over...

 Look at those lovely layers of sponge and delicious ginger and orange peel...ahhhh.

Mimosa balls and silver dragees - and another plan view of the first try out:

If you are inclined do try this gorgeous pudding - it is very subtly, grown up in it's flavour - actually not too sweet if you can believe it and an elegance of taste that derives from the abundance of marmalade and citrus therein.

Happy Baking, Custard Making, French Confection Buying and Steamed Pudding making to you all - let me know if you make it and feel free to post pictures at my Facebook page here:

www.facebook.com/PatriciaSheaDesigns

Thank you so much Isabelle and Histoire Sucree!!!! Merci Beaucoup...