History & Food: The Charlotte Dessert

A Charlotte is a type of dessert that can be served hot or cold. It can also be known as an 'ice-box cake'. Bread, sponge cake or biscuits/cookies are used to line a mould, which is then filled with a fruit puree or custard. It can also be made using layers of breadcrumbs.Classically, stale bread dipped in butter was used as the lining, but sponge cake or sponge fingers may be used today. The filling may be covered with a thin layer of similarly flavoured gelatin.

* Types

Due to the simple preparation of Charlottes, many different varieties have developed. Most Charlottes are served cool, so they are more common in warmer seasons. Fruit Charlottes usually combine a fruit puree or preserve with a custard filling or whipped cream. Some flavors include strawberry, raspberry, apple, pear, and banana.
Other types do not include fruit but use a custard or bavarian cream. Chocolate Charlotte uses a mousse filling within the layers. A citrus curd is a more contemporary choice.

* Charlotte Russe

Charlotte russe is a dessert invented by the French chef Marie Antoine Carême (1784-1833), who named it in honor of his Russian employer Czar Alexander I (russe being the French word for "Russian"). It is a cold dessert of Bavarian cream set in a mold lined with ladyfingers.
Charlotte Russe was also a dessert or on the go treat popular during 1930s & '40s. It was sold in candy stores and luncheonettes throughout the five boroughs of New York. It consisted of a paper cup filled with yellow cake and whipped cream topped with 1/2 maraschino cherry. The bottom of the cup is pushed up to eat.

* Etymology

There is a lot of doubt surrounding the origins of the name charlotte. Despite the fact that Charlottes are served across Europe, one etymology suggests it is a corruption of the Old English word charlyt meaning "a dish of custard." Meat dishes that were known as charlets were popular in the 15th century. Other historians say that this sweet dish took its name from Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), wife of George III. It is possible that the dessert takes its name from Alexander I's sister-in-law, Charlotte of Prussia.

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was the queen-consort of the United Kingdom as wife of King George III.
Queen Charlotte was a patroness of the arts, known to Johann Christian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, among others. She was also an amateur botanist who helped establish Kew Gardens. George III and Queen Charlotte had 15 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood.