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White Chocolate Strawberry Charlotte Cake

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Fancy, elegant and stunningly beautiful, the French strawberry charlotte cake ("Charlotte aux Fraises") with white chocolate makes a delicious celebration cake.
  • Author: Delphine Fortin
  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x
  • Category: Cakes and pies
  • Cuisine: French

The French strawberry charlotte cake (“Charlotte aux Fraises”) with white chocolate and pink ladyfingers makes a delicious celebration cake.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 25–30 ladyfingers*
  • ¼ cup (50g) sugar
  • ½ cup (120 ml) water
  • 7 ounces (200g) white chocolate, chopped
  • 10.5 ounces (300g) mascarpone cheese
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 15.8 ounces (450g) fresh strawberries, halved and/or sliced
  • Fresh mint leaves, for decoration

Instructions

For the white chocolate mousse:

  1. Beat mascarpone cheese with a hand mixer or a stand mixer equipped with the whisk attachment for about 1 minute, until soft.
  2. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave in 30-second increment, until completely melted. Add to the mascarpone and stir until combined.
  3. Add lemon juice to the egg whites and beat with a hand mixer until firm peaks form. Add about ¼ egg whites to the white chocolate filling, then fold in the rest of the filling very carefully. It must be light and fluffy. Set aside.

For the syrup:

  1. In a saucepan, heat up water and sugar over medium heat until it starts bubbling. Stir and remove from heat to cool slightly.

For assembling:

  1. Line an 9.8-inch (25 cm)** round springform with parchment paper (bottom and rims).
  2. Take a ladyfinger and soak the flat side (the bottom) in the syrup. Place it against the side of the pan, rounded-side facing out and flat side (soaked side) facing inward. Repeat and arrange the ladyfingers all around the sides of pan, nice and snug to avoid gaps. Place the rest of the ladyfingers in one layer at the bottom of the pan.
  3. Pour half of the white chocolate mousse inside the pan, then add an additional layer of soaked lady fingers on top. Cover with a thin layer of sliced strawberries, ladle the rest of the mousse on top, and smooth it out with your spatula.
  4. Place the strawberry charlotte cake in the refrigerator to set for at least 4 hours (ideally overnight), until the mousse is set***.
  5. When the Charlotte is chilled and set, carefully remove it from the springform, peel off the parchment paper from the edges and place on a serving tray. Decorate with fresh strawberries, mint leaves, dust with confectioners’ sugar, slice it, and enjoy!

Notes

* Ladyfingers: you can use hard or soft ladyfingers, or if you can find them pink ladyfingers, also called Biscuits roses de Reims.

** If you want to make a big charlotte and an individual one like on the photos, use a 9-inch (23 cm) springform and a 4-inch (10 cm) springform.

*** The charlotte is ready when the mousse is set and relatively firm. If chilled enough, the cake should be easy to work with when slicing. If it is too soft (and starts to fall), give it more time in the fridge before you try to unmold it.

**** Storage. I do not recommend you freeze charlotte. It is better eaten fresh or within the next couple of days, stored in the refrigerator.

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