Charlotte has long been considered the easiest dessert to make. Anyone, even the most novice culinary specialist, can make it. Even if this charlotte is biscuit.
Today we will consider the phased process of preparing this interesting dish. We will learn how to make a classic sponge cake with apples, and also consider different options for this dessert.
Its dough is tender, aromatic, and since it does not contain either oil or margarine, it is also light. This baking is very budgetary, because it does not require any special products or significant financial costs.
What is charlotte
This is a pie about which there is a romantic story. Allegedly, a cook in love invented a dessert with apples and dedicated it to his lady of the heart. And her name was Charlotte. But under this name are several types of desserts.
For example, French charlotte is a kind of pudding. It is made from stale white bread, apples and custard dough. And they cooked it in the fall. After all, it was at this time that the apples were harvested.
And in Russia, they came up with another way of making charlotte. Although the author is still a Frenchman, who was in the service of the Russian Tsar. True, this recipe is more like instructions for making homemade pie. After all, such charlotte is very different from French, and, probably, it can be called a classic biscuit on an apple pillow. But to her taste she really wins.
Ingredients
For ordinary biscuit charlotte, we do not need very many products. Here are the basic ones:
- 6 eggs;
- one and a half glasses of flour;
- the same amount of sugar;
- a few apples - a maximum of 6-8;
- half a teaspoon of soda.
If we use the specified amount of ingredients, then we will have a dessert somewhere in 8 or even 10 servings. But these are basic products. Some recipes prescribe the addition of vanillin, extracts, and other ingredients.
But first, we look at a classic recipe. By the way, it is possible to use a smaller number of eggs in it. But it’s minimally better to take at least 4 pieces.
How to prepare apples
It will also be useful to find out which particular fruit variety is best suited for charlotte. For example, Russian housewives often prefer Antonovka. In any case, you need to choose solid fruits with elastic skin.
If they are soft, they will add excess moisture to the dough. It is best, according to the chefs, to use green apples with a pleasant aroma for charlotte.
So, we have prepared the fruits. Now we take our apples and peel them. Cut the core and seeds. Then cut into thin plates. Some housewives practice chopping in cubes. But it’s precisely the plates of apples that better give away the aroma and juice.
Sponge cake then just melts in your mouth. In addition, if you chop apples large, they will not have time to bake and remain hard. By the way, first you need to deal with the fruit, and then cook the dough. In this case, it will not have time to settle.
Too sweet apples should not be used either. Charlotte should have a spicy sourness. Otherwise she will come out too cloying.
If you still had to deal with sweet apples, add some sour berries. Then the taste will be very balanced. And the aroma inherent in the dessert will be preserved.
How to make biscuit dough for charlotte with apples. Stage One: Proteins
To make the basis of our dessert, you must follow all the necessary instructions. After all, the biscuit dough is tender, which means it is very moody. As a rule, it is done on eggs. But in order to make the perfect biscuit, we must first separate the squirrels from the yolks. This is the first secret of the test.
Then we start whipping the squirrels. When the mass increases in size and becomes lush, add half a glass of sugar. Continue to whisk. Now we will bring our proteins to a state that in cooking is called strong or steep peaks.
This means that if you turn the mass over, it will remain in place. Proteins should be thick, and sharp “slides” should rise on their surface. To achieve this, it is better to add a pinch of salt, lemon juice or acid to the mass for whipping.
If the “sharp peaks” did not work, then the corollas for the mixer were not very clean or the yolk particles got into the proteins. But it happens that the mistresses simply despair in the first minutes. Therefore, advice to novice culinary experts - whip on until it comes out as it should.
Stage Two
Now go to the yolks. The recipe for biscuit charlotte indicates that they should be ground for several minutes with a glass of sugar. It should turn out a lush light foam.
Add proteins to the resulting mass and mix very gently. Many advise at this stage to pour in some kind of extract - vanilla or other perfume.
Mix flour with soda, sift. Some housewives add a special baking powder for the dough. It is used instead of soda. Add flour to the egg mass. Once again, mix everything gently and even beat with a mixer. The dough should be liquid, but not very, the consistency of sour cream or souffle. For piquancy, you can add the zest of orange or lemon.
Baking
Finally, we proceed to the final stage of preparation of biscuit charlotte.
1. We cover the baking dish with a special confectionery parchment. You can just grease it with vegetable or butter, at worst, margarine. You can sprinkle it with starch to remove excess moisture.
2. Put apples there, and pour the dough on top. It needs to be leveled, distributed over all apples.
3. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. This must be done about 15 minutes before we put the charlotte there. Otherwise, the dessert will burn on top, but it will not bake from the inside.
4. Put in the oven the form with the dough. We bake for 30 minutes. But the more tender your dough, the less time it will take to cook. Therefore, if your sponge cake is just with flour and eggs, it can be ready in a quarter of an hour.
The dough should be golden brown. Since biscuit is a very delicate dessert, it is better not to open the oven throughout the process. When the dough rises, its readiness can be checked by a match.
If it is dry leaves the product, then you can remove the form from the oven. In addition, your kitchen will be filled with such an aroma that all homeworkers will impatiently gather at the table.
How to serve dessert
After we have described in detail the recipe for biscuit charlotte (you could familiarize yourself with the photos of the different stages of preparation above), we will briefly dwell on how to deal with it after it has been baked. First of all, you need to remember the secrets of such a test. You don’t want the cake to fall apart into ugly pieces?
Charlotte is allowed to cool slightly. To do this, leave the cake in the form in which it was baked.
Then the charlotte is covered with a dish or plate and turned over. Then the cake will remain below, and the apples, which by that time have already turned into mashed potatoes, will be at the top.
Then they cut the pie in portions. Serving Charlotte to the festive table? You can flavor each serving with a ball of cream ice cream or sour cream. They favorably shade the taste of the cake.
The cream can be prepared with a mixer from a glass of oily (at least 30%, and even better - high-quality rustic) sour cream and 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar. All this must be whipped until the mass thickens to sharp peaks.
More nutritious dough
It was said above that the classic recipe for charlotte with apples, cooked on biscuit dough, does not involve the use of butter or sour cream. But lately there have been varieties of this baking.
For example, at the kneading stage, some housewives advise adding two or three tablespoons of sour cream or mayonnaise to the dough for piquancy. In other recipes, before baking, it is proposed to put pieces of butter on top and sprinkle with sugar - preferably cane, brown.
An interesting option is the preparation of charlotte on kefir. They say that such a dough is tastier than a regular biscuit. A glass of this product is mixed with soda and then added to whipped proteins with yolks. Grated cottage cheese is sometimes added to the dough.
Variations
There are endless disputes over how to serve charlotte. Some believe that it should be sprinkled with powdered sugar or sprinkled with syrup. Others believe that it is already so tasty.
There are many recipes for biscuit charlotte with apples. The basic instructions can be varied with all sorts of additives. In the apples often put more poppy seeds, raisins or nuts, sprinkled with cinnamon.
Pieces of chocolate happen to be added inside. And in the dough you can put banana puree. If you cut the charlotte in half and grease it with some cream, you get a real cake.
And apples can be replaced with peaches, pears or make a pie from a mixture of fruits. They also offer desserts with berries - raspberries, cranberries or cherries. They acquire a unique flavor.
Charlotte can be cooked in a slow cooker, microwave or bread machine. In a word, for this dessert you just need determination, a little culinary skill and imagination.