The Charlotte
The Charlotte.
Funny name, funny story for this French-style Anglo-Russian dessert!
Of English origin, its name was a tribute to Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III (1762-1830).
But it was a kind of baked applesauce pudding back then (very English, what!).
It was Antonin Carême (1784-1833), the first "Chef" in history, who transformed this rather rustic entremet. For Talleyrand, who liked to taste his Madeira wine by dipping a biscuit with a spoon, he first created the boudoir (an allusion to the diplomacy of the same name).
Given the success of this biscuit, he decided to make a no-bake cake, filled with a Bavarian cream, which he called "Parisian charlotte".
Later, when he worked in the kitchens of Tsar Alexander (yet Napoleon's sworn enemy), he renamed it “charlotte à la russe”!
