Charlotte (cake)

Acharlotteis a type ofbread puddingthat can be served hot or cold. It is also referred to as an "icebox cake".Bread,sponge cake, crumbs orbiscuits/cookiesare used to line a mold, which is then filled with afruitpureeorcustard. The baked pudding could then be sprinkled with powdered sugar and glazed with asalamander, a red-hot iron plate attached to a long handle, though modern recipes would likely use more practical tools to achieve a similar effect.
The variantcharlotte russealso calledcharlotte parisienne, created by theFrenchchefAntonin Carême,uses a mold lined withladyfingersand filled withBavarian cream.
Classically,stalebread dipped in butter was used as the lining, but sponge cake orladyfingersmay be used today. The filling may be covered with a thin layer of similarly flavouredgelatin.
The charlotte is known to have existed by the late-18th century.In 1796,The New-York Magazinepublished a poem byJoel BarlowcalledThe Hasty-Puddingwhich included the following lines:
Some have claimed that it was a tribute to Britain'sQueen Charlotte.
In 1815,Marie-Antoine Carêmeclaims to have thought ofcharlotte à la parisienne"pendant mon établissement", presumably in 1803, when he opened his own pastry shop.
The earliest known English recipe is from the 1808 London edition ofMaria Rundell'sNew System of Domestic Cookery:
In Carême's 1815Le Pâtissier royal parisien, he mentions many varieties of charlotte:à la parisienne, à la française, à l'italienne, aux macarons d'avelines, aux gaufres aux pistaches, de pommes, de pomme d'api, d'abricots, de pêches, de pommes glacée aux abricots, de pommes au beurre, parisienne à la vanille, de pommes; he mentionsà la russeas the name used by others for what he calledà la parisienne.
There are many variants. Most charlottes are served cool, so they are more common in warmer seasons. Fruit charlottes usually combine a fruit purée orpreserve, like raspberry or pear, with a custard filling orwhipped cream. Charlottes are not always made with fruit; some, notably charlotte russe, use custard orBavarian cream, and achocolatecharlotte is made with layers of chocolatemoussefilling.
TheAlgerian charlotteis made withhoney,dates, orange rind, and almonds.
The 19th-century Russiansharlotkais a baked pudding with layers of brown bread and apple sauce, and has since evolved into a simple dessert of chopped apples baked in a sweet batter.
Charlotte russeorcharlotte à la russeis a cold dessert ofBavarian creamset in amoldlined withladyfingers.
A simplified version of charlotte russe was a popular dessert or on-the-go treat sold incandy storesandluncheonettesinNew York City, during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. It consisted of a paper cup filled with yellow cake and whipped cream topped with half amaraschino cherry. The bottom of the cup is pushed up to eat.
Charlotte royale is made with the same filling as a Charlotte russe, but the ladyfingers are replaced by slices ofSwiss roll.
The earliest attestation of "charlotte" is in a New York magazine in 1796.Its origins are unclear. It may come from the woman's name.One etymology suggests it is a corruption of theOld Englishwordcharlyt, a kind of custard, orcharlets, a meat dish.
It is often claimed that Carême named it charlotte after one of the various foreign royals he served, but the name appears years earlier.
Carême's preferred name forcharlotte à la russewascharlotte à la parisienne, and he says (in 1815) that "others" prefer to call itrusse,so it is unlikely that he named itrussefor Czar Alexander I as has been proposed.
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