Charlotte in our modern sense is a biscuit baked with apples or other fruit filling. However, this delicious dessert has a rather conditional relation to real charlotte. The classic Charlotte pie is a French dish, although it’s worthwhile to recognize the British as the “founders” of the idea. After all, initially charlotte is a kind of pudding that is made from white bread soaked in a mixture of milk and eggs. As the filling, the same stewed apples or any other fruits were used.
However, there is another version of this delicious dessert, which was called "Charlotte a la Russe", that is, "Charlotte in Russian." This dessert is "assembled" from ready-made biscuits, which are layered with whipped cream or Bavarian cream. Such charlotte is not baked, but rather cooled until the cream hardens.
If you want to cook a classic version of charlotte, then you need to cut the loaf so that thicker slices can be laid on the bottom of the mold, and thinner on the sides of the mold and between the layers of apples. Now you need to prepare the filling by whipping the eggs with milk as if we were going to cook the omelet, you can add sugar and vanilla to the mixture. It remains to cook apples. They need to be cut and stewed a little in a small amount of water with sugar and lemon juice. But it’s easier and faster to cook apples in the microwave. The mold should be very well oiled. Now we take slices of loaf that will go to the bottom of the pie, and dip them with one side in the scrambled eggs mixture. We spread the bread in a mold moistened with the side up. In the same way, slices are laid out on the sides of the form. Then you need to put part of the apple filling and cover this layer with thin slices of bread dipped in the scrambled eggs mixture on both sides. So repeat until the form is filled or the prepared bread runs out. The remaining scrambled eggs should be poured on top. Then bake the prepared pie in the oven.
However, today for most of us, a pie of charlotte with apples is still a delicious biscuit. And there are a great many options for making such a dessert.
The simplest but most delicious recipe prescribes making a classic biscuit dough, beat eggs well with icing sugar and add flour to this lush cream. In such a dough, in no case should you put soda or baking powder. The splendor of the pie is ensured by beaten eggs. Then, apples are cut and laid out on the bottom of the prepared biscuit dough, and the pie is placed in the oven. The secret to the success of this pie lies in thoroughly beating eggs and proper baking. By the time the test is ready, the oven should already be preheated to 180 degrees. And during baking, it is forbidden to open the oven door, since the biscuit from the temperature difference can fall and the cake will not be lush.
It is important to choose and prepare the right fruit for the filling. The most delicious pie Charlotte with apples is obtained from Antonovka, that is, fruits with a sour taste. If only sweet apples are available, then the situation can be corrected by adding a little sour berries, for example, currants or cranberries, to the filling.
Probably every mistress has her own delicious recipes for charlotte. For example, some prefer to cook the dough on kefir, with the addition of a small amount of oil and a baking powder. In this case, a pie of charlotte with apples will have a completely different taste and appearance.
There is a variant of charlotte, when apples are not laid on the bottom of the mold, but on top of the laid dough. In this case, you don’t need to turn the cake over, because the filling will be at the top. In this embodiment, sometimes they use not biscuit, but shortbread dough.
To diversify the taste, a pie of charlotte with apples can be prepared with various additives. For example, vanilla, cinnamon, lemon zest or raisins can be added to the dough. And if you put a little cocoa in the whipped mass, you get chocolate charlotte.
You can come up with even more options with the filling. To apples, as already mentioned, you can add berries, lemon zest, sliced orange or any other fruit. You can add nuts or honey to the filling.
And with what to serve charlotte? The classic version is with ice cream, as well as with any air cream or whipped cream.