Cakes Pastry

Mini Bespoke Charlottes

These cute little French pastries were made in just over an hour in our Surprise Bake Along on September 26th! What fun they are to make! There are just three easy components… including making Ladyfingers from scratch (oui!!), a simple mousse for the interior, and a Chantilly whipped cream to put on top! The mousse is the flavor of your choice! Pick whichever jam suits your fancy.

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Mini Bespoke Charlottes

Top Tips: Don’t wait too long to pipe and bake the ladyfingers, or you’ll have a deflating batter on your hands.

Sprinkle the ladyfingers liberally with powdered sugar right before you put them in the oven. That way you’ll have some that have a little dusting show up even after they are baked.

Assemble the Charlottes on little dessert plates or teacup saucers, or inside small bowls, or cute teacups.

TO VIEW THE VIDEO of this Bake Along – Click over to Instagram HERE.

Mini Bespoke Charlottes

Cute mini Charlotte cakes with homemade ladyfingers, mousse, and Chantilly cream! Use whatever jam that you'd like to make it your own.

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Ingredients

Lady Fingers

4 large eggs, separated
1 cup (125 g) All-Purpose Flour
2/3 cup (130 g) granulated sugar
powder sugar for dusting

Simple Mousse

1 1/2 cup (360 ml) heavy cream, cold
1/2 cup (165 g) jam of your choice (blackberry, raspberry, strawberry…

Chantilly Cream

1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream, cold
1/4 cup (30 g) powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

To Assemble:

Fresh berries/fruit (optional)

Instructions

Start by making the Ladyfingers:

Preheat your oven to 350F/175C.
Whisk the egg yolks and half of the granulated sugar together until slightly lighter in color.
Whip up the egg whites on medium speed until no liquid egg white is left in the bowl. Then increase the speed to medium-high and start gradually adding the remaining granulated sugar little by little. Whip until the whites have formed a stiff peak. This can take between 5-10 minutes!
Give the yolks/sugar one last whisk and pour over the whipped whites. Carefully fold together. Try not to deflate the egg whites.
Sift the flour over the batter in two additions, folding in after each.
Transfer to a piping bag with a 10mm (Ateco 804 // Wilton 2A // .38 inch // 1cm) round tip.
Pipe lines about the length of a finger on a parchment-lined baking sheet. They don't have to be perfect! Each will be trimmed when constructing the Charlottes.
Dust the ladyfingers liberally with powdered sugar and immediately put in the oven. The batter needs to be piped and used immediately before the egg whites start to deflate.
Bake 8-10 minutes until lightly browned and puffed up. The surface will be cracked too.
Cool at room temperature.

Prepare the Simple Mousse:

Whip the 1 1/2 (360 ml) of cold heavy cream to medium peak.
Add the jam and then whip until very firm. Scrape the bowl as needed to help redistribute the jam.
Transfer to a piping bag (fill only halfway for more control) with no tip. Cut a large opening (1/2 inch – 1.5 cm) at the end. Set aside.

Whip up the Chantilly Cream:

Whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla until medium-firm peak. Essentially to the point where it will hold its shape while piped.
Transfer to a piping bag with a star tip.

To Assemble:

Carefully peel the ladyfingers off the parchment paper. (See video for a little trick to do this all at once).
Pipe a tall mound of mousse in the center of a small plate, mug, or teacup (about 2 inches / 5cm tall).
Use kitchen shears to trim the ladyfingers to be about 1 inch (2.5cm) taller than the mound. Place around the mound of mousse, pressing in to hold them in place.
In the center, place the ladyfinger cake scrape and small pieces of optional fresh fruit.
Cover with another swirl of mousse to reach the top of the ladyfingers.
Finish it off with a swoosh of Chantilly cream.
Wrap with a ribbon if you'd like. Then chill about 30 minutes before serving.
These are great for about 2 days. Keep chilled until serving.