Sunday, September 19, 2010

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.
.
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. 


                          



13 comments:

  1. ב''ה

    Fantastic Job. Virtual high five!

    Those pink apples look really special.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well done, Vicki! I love the rose in the center.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful Vicki. Lovely color of the apples. Love the step by step photo.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I also love that rosette color you got going.. mine is all pale, pale just like me during the winter!

    And now we conquer this recipe... like Mendy said - HIGH FIVE! This was a doozy for me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. WOW! You did it! Love how gorgeous your apple shading is! I am still finishing mine up and hope it tastes as delicious as your's looks!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! I love the color of those apples, and the vivid magenta sauce is gorgeous! Beautiful job :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the center of your rose! I felt the same way when I finished.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your pink pearl apples! I've not seen these type of apples before! Beautiful cake..you can go rest now for a week..:D

    ReplyDelete
  9. those pink pearl apples are so pretty! too bad (or i guess, not really) they turned into mush. i will be sure to wear my danskos when i make this cake :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you for your wonderful comments on the coffee break muffins and coffee hot chocolate. I am not a coffee drinker and I actually drank a whole cup of the coffee hot chocolate and ate the toasted muffin with. I don't think my feet ever actually touched the flour for about 3 hours after.

    Curious if you are dreading our next cake, using tomato soup? I made the mistake of telling my husband about the cake and you should have seen the look on his face. I don't see Rose adding the recipe if the cake wasn't delicious . . . so here is hoping!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful, Vicki!!! I love how the red applesauce peeks through the apples. How creative!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Your version of Rose's charlotte is so gorgeous. I can't believe what a perfect rendition you created. I have never seen pink pearl apples before -- lovely color.

    Kathleen

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you for your kind comments; the tomato and chocolate cake ended up tasting like a rich chocolate cake with no tomato flavor. A sliver goes a long way! Also, my little cookie candles became moist and lost their crispness overnight. I covered the cake but not well enough I guess. Just a heads up for storage.

    ReplyDelete