Dinner DeeAs Dessert Week recipe: Peaches & Cream Charlotte

All this week we're skipping dinner to go straight to dessert. To kick off our Dessert Week, who better than the Executive Pastry Chef Armand Berger from 'Lottie' at The Vinoy in St Pete. He's sharing how he makes a 'Peaches & Cream Charlotte', essentially an icebox cake, lined with sponge ladyfingers and filled with a fruit custard.

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Peaches & Cream Charlotte

Ingredients

Punch & Filling

• 300 g peaches, puréed
• 200 g peaches, chopped
• 50 ml water
• 50 g sugar
• ½ vanilla bean

Ladyfingers

• 3 egg whites, at room temperature
• 2 g cream of tartar or lemon juice
• 100 g sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 100 g cake flour

Bavarian Cream

• gelatin, soaked in cold water
• 250 ml milk & 250 ml heavy cream (first liquids)
• ½ vanilla bean
• 12g gelatin, 200 bloom
• 6 egg yolks
• 120g sugar
• 450 ml heavy cream (second liquids)

Equipment

• stand mixer with whisk attachment
• baking tray lined with silicone mat or parchment paper
• cake ring lined with parchment or acetate

Directions

Ladyfingers

1. Sift flour and set aside.
2. In stand mixer, beat egg whites on medium speed with a third of sugar.
3. Preheat oven to 375º F/190º C.
4. Gradually add remaining sugar while beating egg whites on medium-high speed.
5. Lower speed and incorporate egg yolks.
6. Stop mixer and gently fold in sifted flour using whisk by hand.
7. Pipe ladyfingers onto baking tray, spacing them about 0.5-inch/1.25cm apart.
8. Make spiral disk for bottom cake.
9. Dust ladyfingers with powdered sugar, let melt, then dust again.
10. Bake for 15 minutes.
11. Cool, then slice ladyfingers in middle.

Punch & Filling

1. Boil water, sugar, puréed peaches, and vanilla bean.
2. Use punch to moisturize ladyfingers, then add chopped peaches to remaining punch for filling.

Bavarian Cream

1. Soak gelatin in cold water.
2. Make crème Anglaise: heat milk and cream (first liquids) with vanilla.
3. Whisk egg yolks and sugar; temper with hot milk-cream.
4. Cook to 185º F/85º C on low heat, stirring constantly.
5. Remove from heat, drain gelatin, and mix in.
6. Cool over ice water, whisking occasionally.
7. Whip heavy cream (second liquids) to soft peaks.
8. When custard reaches 80ºF /29º C, fold in whipped cream.

Assembly

Click the video below to see how Chef Armand assembled the sides and base of the cake

• Line cake ring with parchment or acetate.
• Dust ladyfingers with powdered sugar, flip, and moisturize with punch.
• Arrange ladyfingers in cake ring, rounded side up and soaked side facing in.
• Place biscuit disk upside down and soak with punch.
• Pour Bavarian cream halfway, add some filling, then fill to top with Bavarian cream.
• Freeze for 6 hours to set before removing cake ring.
• Thaw in fridge for 1 hour, then top with peach slices tossed in vanilla bean and peach jam.
• Garnish with rose petals if desired. Refrigerate for up to 4 days.

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