Apple Caramel Charlotte

Apple Caramel Charlotte from Rose's Heavenly Cakes is an amazing dessert.  Light, creamy with caramel undertones and apples to offset too much sweetness.
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Pink Pearl apples.  

                                       Apples poaching in sugar syrup with vanilla bean.

                                                  Which turned into magenta applesauce.

                   

Re-poaching Granny Smiths with Pink Pearl skin added for color.

                                          

                           What to do with leftover poaching liquid?  Any ideas ? 

                                          

Rolling the parchment from underneath the sponge cake was much easier than flipping the cake.

                                            

                               Measuring the cake into strips.

Blast!  How did this one get left behind?  It was supposed to be brushed with apricot jam and layered with the others in the freezer. 

Cooling caramel custard over ice cubes. I used agar instead of gelatin, which made for a less dense texture. 

             

Mixing together whipped cream, caramel custard and the Italian meringue.

At this point I thought about chucking the whole lot.  I had a terrible time getting the sliced cake pieces to stand upright against the side of the spring form pan. 

                                      

Since the Pink Pearl apples made gorgeous apple sauce,  I took a bit of liberty and spread it over the finished custard then sparingly arranged the apple slices.  The center rose is poached apple skin.  Painting the apple slices with arrowroot and poaching syrup was a bit of welcome fun.

This definitely is not the type of dessert we typically have in our house.  I wasn't sure if any of us would like it.  I am pleased to say it received high marks which is nice because it is going to take me a week to recover. This innocent dessert took two days to make and loads of dish washing.  I could have used a pair of nurses shoes to help with the hours of standing.  When it was finally finished and chilling in the frig, I have to admit it gave me an enormous sense of accomplishment.