Mother's Day is just around the corner! It's hard to believe how fast time flies, when we've only just celebrated Easter. Still, I always look forward to these special days, because I always come up with special recipes for extraordinary treats for them. On the day that honours all mums there are lots of flowers, homemade keepsakes and the odd brunch with plenty of goodies. On this day, all mums are the centre of attention. So how about a delicious cake to spoil your mum with in the afternoon over coffee as well?
Today I have something really extra special for you! Namely a fruity, light spring dessert, perfect for special occasions: a strawberry charlotte!
An airy strawberry mousse, accompanied by little pieces of strawberry, delicate sponge fingers… How does that sound to you? A fresh and easy-to-make recipe to sweeten your afternoon coffee or to round off a delicious meal perfectly.
I'm sure you'll surprise your mum with this and absolutely delight her. And the best part: the charlotte is really easy to make and therefore perfectly suited to baking beginners too. All the same, this cake looks stunning and will have everyone bubbling over with enthusiasm.
Strawberry Charlotte
- Preparation30 min
- Resting time5 min
- Total35 min
- Calories410kcal
- Carbohydrates46gof which sugars 34 g
- Protein5g
- Fat23gof which saturated 14 g
- Fibre2g
per serving
Ingredients
Syrup for dipping
- 100 gr water
- 50 gr granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (natural)
- Essential oils (Madagascar Vanilla)
Charlotte
- 20 sponge finger biscuits
- 380 gr strawberries
- 60 gr granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 4.5 leaves gelatine (or agar agar)
- 360 gr cream (very cold)
Filling + decoration
- 250 gr strawberries
Method
Syrup for dipping
- For the syrup, bring the water and icing sugar to the boil in a pan, take off the heat, add the vanilla extract and let the syrup cool.
- I also add 2 drops of Madagascar Vanilla to intensify the flavour.
Charlotte
- Set the cake ring to a diameter of 18 cm and place it directly on a cake plate.
- Trim the sponge fingers a little at the bottom end so that they can stand on a flat surface. Take a sponge finger, dip the flat side into the syrup and place it against the edge of the circle with the curved side facing outwards. Continue with the other biscuits until they are all standing around the edge. Line the base of the circle with biscuits as well. Feel free to cut the biscuits so that the whole base is covered.
- Soak the gelatine in cold water.
- Wash 380 g strawberries well, hull them and put them into a blender. Purée until you have a smooth mixture. Add the lemon juice and fold it in.
- Put a third of the strawberry purée into a pan with the sugar. Bring to the boil, take off the heat, squeeze the gelatine out well, add it and stir thoroughly. Mix the hot purée with the rest of the cold purée to speed up the cooling.
- Whip the very cold cream until stiff, add it bit by bit to the strawberry purée and fold it in carefully with a spatula so that the whipped cream doesn't collapse. In the end the mixture should be homogeneous and nice and fluffy.
- For the fruit layer, wash about 10-12 strawberries, hull them and cut them into small pieces.
- Put half of the mousse into the middle of the prepared sponge fingers. Spread the strawberry pieces over it and cover with the remaining mixture. Smooth the surface and put the charlotte, covered, into the fridge for at least 5 hours to set.
Filling + decoration
- Remove the cake ring. Decorate with the remaining strawberries as you like and serve well chilled.
Notes
Instead of strawberries, other berries such as raspberries, blackberries or blueberries can also be used for the mousse.
If you have some mousse left over, you can fill it into little jars and serve it as small dessert pots, or eat it yourself for a taste 😉
The strawberry charlotte can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days, ideally in an airtight container.
Cooking with essential oils
In this recipe:Vanilla Oil
How to dose essential oils (toothpick method!), when to add them and what to look out for — it is all in the guide.
Have you made this recipe? Tag @oatoclock_blog on Instagram so we can see the result.
Leave a Reply