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Deconstructed Chocolate-Rum Charlotte
(aka, “Eiffel Trifle”)

Deconstructed Chocolate-Rum Charlotte

A Charlotte is a classic French dessert composed of a mold of liqueur-soaked ladyfingers and filled with a Bavarian cream or mousse filling. Delicious, but fiddly to make, what with trimming all those ladyfingers to fit and getting (and keeping!) them positioned in the mold just so. This recipe solves that problem brilliantly: fuse the components of a decadent chocolate-rum Charlotte with the assembly technique of an English trifle.

The chocolate mousse is adapted from an Alice Medrich recipe. It uses no butter or dairy, allowing the pure, rich flavor of the chocolate to shine through — using high-quality chocolate is essential! Dark, smooth rum and tart apricot jam round out the flavors, with a dash of coffee to balance the chocolate’s sweetness.

The mousse requires heating the egg mixture to 160F over a water bath, to kill any possible salmonella bacteria. Heating the eggs also helps stabilize the egg foam, preventing it from deflating when the chocolate is folded into it. The sugar and water in the egg mixture will prevent the eggs from scrambling at that temperature, but the mixture must be stirred constantly to prevent it from developing ‘hot spots’ where the temperature is high enough to cook the egg proteins. If you’re not able to simultaneously stir the eggs and take their temperature, remove the bowl of eggs from the water bath while checking temperature, and return to stirring as quickly as possible.

This dessert needs at least 2 hours to chill after assembling.

— 10-12 servings

*Items marked in green are available from The Gourmet Corner.

Ingredients


Rum Syrup
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup dark rum

Chocolate-Rum Mousse

  • 9 oz Cacao Noel Royale 64% chocolate calets*
  • 6 Tbs strong coffee or water
  • 2 Tbs dark rum
  • 5 large eggs
  • 5 Tb water
  • 5 Tb sugar

*Do not substitute a lower-percentage chocolate: the mousse will not set properly. If you prefer to use a higher-percentage chocolate, use 7 ounces of Cacao Noel Noir 72% Calets and increase the sugar to 7 Tbs.

Charlotte Ingredients

  • 1 package (24) Grand Jury Cuillers (French Ladyfingers)
  • 1/2 cup Agrimontana apricot jam
  • (Optional) chocolate-covered espresso beans or chocolate shavings, for garnish

Whipped Cream

  • 1/2 cup whipping cream
  • 2 Tbs powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Useful Equipment

  • instant-read thermometer
  • stand mixer
  • 3-quart bowl or serving dish

Rum Syrup

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes, stirring until sugar has completely dissolved.

Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Add rum and stir until completely blended. Place in a small bowl and set aside until needed.

Chocolate-Rum Mousse

In a 2-quart microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate and 6 Tbs coffee (or water). Microwave on low power until the chocolate is melted. Stir until smoothly blended. Add 2 Tbs rum and stir again until smooth. Set aside.

Hand-whisk 5 eggs, 5 Tbs water, and 5 tbs sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until well mixed. Place the bowl in a large pan of barely-simmering water — the level of the water should be slightly lower than the level of the eggs in the bowl. Stir gently but constantly as the egg mixture heats, to prevent it from scrambling, and check the temperature frequently.

As soon as the temperature reaches 160F, place the bowl on the mixer and whip at high speed for 6-8 minutes until thick and quite pale. The mixture should be thick enough that it forms soft peaks when the beater is withdrawn.

If the chocolate has hardened, microwave it briefly on low power to warm it, then stir until smooth. Fold about a quarter of the egg foam into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then fold in the remainder.

Assembling the Charlotte

Put the apricot jam in a small, microwave-safe bowl. If there are large chunks of fruit in it, use kitchen shears to chop them up. Microwave the jam on low power for 30-45 seconds to warm and thin it.

Break the cuillers roughly into thirds. Drop a handful of the chunks into the rum syrup, let them soak for 10-15 seconds, then remove them with a slotted spoon. Place soaked chunks in bottom of Charlotte dish. Repeat until the bottom of the dish is covered with a layer of the soaked cuillers, using about half of the chunks.

Use a small spoon to drop dabs of apricot jam over the cuillers, using about half the jam. Pour half the mousse over the cuiller chunks.

Repeat soaking with the remaining cuiller chunks, placing them gently on the mousse. Dab the rest of the jam over the second layer of cuillers, then cover with the remaining mousse.

Place the Charlotte in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to firm up the mousse.

Garnishing the Charlotte

Just before serving, whip the cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla. Drop spoonfuls of it around the outer edge of the Charlotte, or for a more elegant presentation, use a pastry bag and large star tip to pipe out large rosettes of cream.

If desired, garnish the whipped cream with chocolate-covered espresso beans or chocolate shavings.

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