Dilek's Strawberry Charlotte

Here is a picture of the anxiously awaited charlotte after it was unmolded. I had other pictures of it with better lighting, but both Yurdaer and Zeynep thought that this picture is the most artistic one that I took, so there you go! And in case you are wondering, yes, it did collapse gradually, but it held itself very well until I took several pictures and cut that first slice. The charlotte was an instant favorite with both my kids, and in spite of the puddle it became by the time he came back from work, Yurdaer also liked it very much. I guess I have to give it another try with more gelatin power soon.

I already provided a link to Dilek's recipe in my previous post, but here is an English translation just in case.

1 strawberry jelly roll lined mold (refer to the previous post for jelly-roll recipe)
250-300 gm strawberries (can substitute frozen strawberries when fresh ones are not in season)
250 gm ricotta
200-250 gm heavy cream
200 gm raspberry juice
Unflavored vegeterian gelatin as needed (this is the tricky part!)

Puree the strawberries. Dilek's recipe does not include sugar, but since my strawberries were not very flavorful, I had to add 1/4 c sugar at this stage.) If you want, you can cut a few strawberries into chunks and add to the puree. Whip the cream in a medium sized bowl, add the ricotta and the strawberry puree to it and gently stir until you get a uniformly pink mixture. Bring the fruit juice to a boil in a small saucepan. Mix the gelatin to it, and stir until completely melted. Add this to the pink filling and stir well until incorporated. Pour the filling into the jelly roll lined mold. Tap a few times for filling to settle. Fit the leftover jelly roll slices to form the top layer. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, put a weight on top and let rest in the refrigerator for several hours. Unmolding should be fairly easy. If you have difficulty, you can wrap the mold with a hot, wet towel for a few seconds, or you can use your hair dryer. Once unmolded, you can glaze the charlotte with a little apricot jam diluted with orange juice.


Charlotte starting to collapse (see the top)