Charlotte Royale Cake

Raspberry Charlotte Royale cake is a stunning summer cake lined with a rolled biscuit and filled with silky Bavarian cream and fresh raspberries. Rich, sweet, and delicious, you will surely get back for more.

What is Charlotte Royale?

Charlotte Royale is a half-sphere-shaped dessert made from slices of raspberry Swiss roll cake, filled with classic Bavarian cream and fresh raspberries.

Over the years, Charlotte cakes have gained immense popularity since their invention by the French chef Marie-Antoine Carême.

As per Joe Pastry, "Charlotte Royale is ... a dressed up version of Charlotte russe." Charlotte Royale and Charlotte Russe have the same mousse filling, but the Royal version replaces Charlotte Russe's ladyfinger lining with Swiss roll slices.

While strawberry Charlotte may be a simple dessert, its sophisticated counterpart, Charlotte Royale, poses a more technical challenge. However, this guided recipe and accompanying step-by-step photographs will quickly guide you through the process.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

• Large eggs at room temperature.
• Granulated sugar
• All-purpose flour: To make a gluten-free biscuit, replace all-purpose flour with cornstarch or rice flour.
• Potato starch: You can switch it to corn starch.
• Raspberry jam: Use a homemade or store-bought raspberry jam. If you do not like seeds, please use a seedless raspberry jam. You can also replace it with another fruit jam.
• Whole milk: You can replace it with low-fat milk.
• Gelatin sheets with a strength of 200 bloom. To substitute leaves of gelatine in the recipe, use 8 g of powdered gelatin and ¼ cup (60 ml) of cold water.
• Vanilla bean: You can replace it with 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste.
• Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream with at least 30% fat content.
• Fresh raspberries: You can replace them with other fresh seasonal fruits such as strawberries.
• Cake glaze or neutral topping is optional, but if you make the cake in advance, you will need to brush the dessert with a clear glaze to prevent it from drying out.

How to make Charlotte Royale

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C). Sift the flour and potato starch into a large bowl and set aside.

Step 2. To make the rolled cake, separate the egg whites from the egg yolks with an egg separator. Beat the whites at medium speed, gradually adding sugar. Once the meringue is glossy, decrease the mixer speed and add egg yolks whisked as an omelet.

Step 3. Beat the mixture for the other 15 seconds till all the ingredients are well incorporated. Add the sifted dry ingredients and gently mix with a spatula (photo 1).

Step 4. Divide the batter into two parts. Spread the first part of the batter on a 12 x 16 inches (30 x 40 cm) baking sheet covered with parchment paper to the thickness of ⅕ inches (5 mm) and smooth with a bent spatula (photo 2).

Pro tip: Alternatively, use a non-spill baking sheet (no need to grease it).

Step 5. Bake for 10 minutes (photo 3). Once the biscuit is ready, remove it from the oven and cover it with a clean tea towel.

Step 6. Flip it on top of the cloth and carefully remove the parchment or silicone sheet: gently lift the corners and then the mat or paper's whole surface. Cover the biscuit with another parchment layer and roll it from the long side to let it cool and retain moisture (photo 4). Repeat with the second part of the cake batter.

Step 7. Unwrap the cooled cake (photo 5). Spread a thin layer of the raspberry jam and roll it into a tight spiral with parchment (photo 6).

Pro tip: Read on how to make a cake roll.

Step 8. Wrap the rolled biscuit in a plastic film and refrigerate for about three to four hours to facilitate cutting.

Step 9. To make the Bavarian cream, first, make cream Anglaise or vanilla custard. Place gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water and let it soak for 10 minutes. Bring whole milk with the scraped vanilla seeds to a boil.

Pro tip: Consult the Bavarian cream recipe for step-by-step photographed explanations, helpful tips, and tricks.

Step 10. Whisk egg yolks with sugar in a separate bowl, then slowly pour in the hot milk while continually stirring. Return the yolk mixture to a saucepan, cook over low heat, and continue whisking.

Step 11. Once the custard coats the back of the spoon and reaches 179°F (82°C) - use a sugar thermometer - and take the pot from the heat. Add the drained gelatin. Transfer the custard to another bowl, cover it with plastic wrap in contact, and let it cool to room temperature.

Pro tip: Consult the recipe for creme Anglaise for step-by-step photographed explanations, helpful tips, and tricks.

Step 12. Pour heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer with a whip attachment (you can use an electric mixer) and whisk cream until soft peaks (photo 7).

Pro tip: Read about the peak stages of whipped cream.

Step 13. Add the whipped cream to the cooled custard, gently mixing with a wooden spoon or spatula (photo 8). Let it rest to thicken slightly, occasionally stirring.

Step 14. To assemble Charlotte cake, line the bottom and sides of a bowl 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter with a plastic film.

Step 15. Cut the edges of the sponges with a sharp knife, then cut rolled biscuits into thin slices - 5 mm or ⅕ inch thick (photo 9).

Step 16. Arrange them at the bottom and sides of the lined bowl, pressing them against each other and the dish (photo 10).

Step 17. Pour a third of the Bavarian cream in the center and distribute half of the fresh raspberries (photo 11). Pour another third of the cream again and repeat the layer of raspberries (photo 12).

Step 18. Finish with the cream. Cover the bottom of the bowl with the remaining rolled biscuit slices (photo 13), and place a plastic film on top of the biscuits.

Step 19. Cover the top of the bowl with a cardboard base to pack everything. Finally, refrigerate the Charlotte cake for at least 6 hours and up to 24 hours.

To serve, remove the cardboard and plastic, flip the cake on a serving plate, lift off the bowl, and serve immediately (photo 14).

Optionally, brush the surface of the cake with a thin layer of a clear glaze and refrigerate until serving. 

If you feel about decorating your Charlotte, you can arrange red fruits and mint sprigs on top of the cake.

You can also whip Chantilly cream, place it in a pastry bag fitted with an open star pastry tip, and pipe a continuous design of scallops around the base of the Charlotte.

Expert Tips

1. To get enough slices, make two sponge rolls out of the biscuit ingredients provided in the recipe. You will use one and a half rolls to choose the beautifully looking cake slices.
2. Spread a THIN layer of the raspberry jam over the biscuit to get neat slices with cutting.
3. Roll the biscuit from either end: if you roll from the short end, the slices will be larger.
4. Press the cake slices against the bowl to prevent Bavarian cream from overflowing afterward.
5. Start making Bavarian cream once you are ready to assemble the cake; otherwise, it will thicken before you slice up the cake roll.
6. Wait for the Bavarian cream to thicken slightly; otherwise, it will leak between the cake slices and the bowl. In this case, the cake will be covered by Bavarian cream on top of the slices.
7. Make-ahead option: Prepare the Swiss roll cakes on the first day, assemble the cake on the following day, and keep it wrapped in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.

Recipe variations

Everyone loves classic Charlotte Royale, but if you are ready to add a modern twist on tradition, try experimenting with new additions to the classic recipe.

• Rolled biscuit: Try to make a chocolate version of Charlotte Royale by swapping the classic Swiss roll for its chocolate variation.

• Filling: While Bavarian vanilla or raspberry cream is classic for making the Charlotte Royale, strawberry or chocolate cream is something for you to give a try.

• Fruits: Use strawberries to make strawberry Charlotte Royale and even blueberries or cherries as other fruit variations. Swap raspberry jam for another fruit jam accordingly.

If fresh fruits are out of the season, you can use the remaining rolled biscuit slices to fill the Charlotte. Just use them instead of berries: arrange slices in layers or insert them into the cream randomly.

Another way to make a plain (without fresh fruits) Charlotte is to double the Bavarian cream recipe and add more vanilla to accentuate the taste.

• Shape: Make your Charlotte Royale in a classic cake mold instead of using a glass bowl that shapes it into a half-sphere.

Storing and freezing

Store Charlotte Royale under a glass dome in the refrigerator for up to 24-48 hours.

Can you freeze Charlotte Royale? It is not recommended to freeze the Charlotte cake since it is prepared with gelatin, which does withstand freezing temperatures.

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was adapted from https://www.mercotte.fr/. It was originally published on June 04, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos.