I always think of French desserts as being incredibly finicky and time-consuming. Puff pastry and custard aren’t exactly the usual domain of Quick Kitchen recipes. But I figured there had to be some way of making a delicious French-seeming dessert that was also easy and fast.
I started doing research and kept coming across amazing-looking photographs of raspberry charlottes—something about the thought of ladyfingers drenched in custard, cream, and raspberry really made my mouth water. Though I was determined to think up a simple version, I couldn’t figure out how to cheat the time-intensive, gelatin-thickened custard found in most traditional charlottes. I have to thank my fellow food editor, Maggie Ruggiero, for suggesting melted ice cream. It was the perfect solution for a no-hassle custard. And adding a bit of cognac boosted the flavor to make it taste like something really special.
I thought that it would be smooth sailing from then on, but I ran into another problem when I started looking for French sponge-cake-style ladyfingers—they were nowhere to be found. It seems that the prevalence of tiramisu caused the crisp Italian ladyfingers to completely take over supermarket shelves, edging out the soft French variety. It made me a little sad because I always loved the spongy cookies, but I wasn’t going to let my recipe suffer. My dessert, I decided, would be the love child of a charlotte and a tiramisu.
Forget perfectly arranging the cookies like the French do; just put them in a dish and let them soak up the boozy melted ice cream. The raspberry purée and raspberry whipped cream add tart, fruity notes that perfectly balance the sweetness of the custard-infused ladyfingers. I was pleased by how the charlotte turned out: It’s got an ideal combination of the laid-back attitude of the Italians and the sophistication of the French.
Try our easy, no-fuss recipe for this fruity dessert.
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