Charlotte Royale Cake
My friend Charlotte came to visit this weekend and she asked me if I had ever heard of the cake named in her honor, a Charlotte Royale cake. I didn’t recognize the name, but as soon as she showed me the picture I recognized it as a tough challenge on the Great British Bake Off show. Throwing caution to the wind, we decided to give it a try!
We spread out the baking over two days. We made the jelly roll cake on Saturday, and then assembled it with a cheese cake filling on Sunday. It turned out looking like a giant brain, haha! So I think you could definitely bring this as a dessert to a Halloween party.
Ingredients
For the Cake
4 oz cake flour (1 c)
3/4 c sugar
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/4 c water
4 egg yolks at room temp
1 T vanilla extract
6 egg whites at room temp
1/4 c sugar
1/4 t cream of tartar
13 oz strawberry jam
For the Filling:
No bake cheesecake filling (Jello and Philadelphia Cream Cheese both make these)
1 cup freeze-dried strawberries, chopped
1 t vanilla extract (optional, to add flavor to the cheesecake filling)
1/2 t almond extract (optional, to add flavor to the cheesecake filling)
Instructions
1
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a jelly-roll pan (around 12×18 inches) by spraying the surface with cooking spray, lining with parchment paper, and then spraying the paper as well. Prepare a 9 inch round pan in the same way.
2
In a large bowl, add the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and whisk to combine. Then whisk together the wet ingredients in a small bowl: oil, water, egg yolks, and vanilla.
3
Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites and whip on medium speed. When the whites begin to appear frothy, add the cream of tartar. Continue whipping until they start to hold soft peaks. Then add the remaining ¼ cup sugar, a spoonful at a time, until it’s all incorporated. Beat the whites on medium-high until they hold firm peaks.
4
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together with a spatula until smooth. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites at a time into the mixture very carefully. Be careful not to deflate the egg whites you worked so hard to make fluffy, while also trying to make sure you don’t have huge unmixed portions of egg whites.
5
Pour 1.5 cups of batter into the 9 inch round pan. Pour the rest into the prepared jelly-roll sheet pan. Smooth the cake mixture in both pans to help it cook evenly.
6
Bake the cakes at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes, until they are a light golden brown and the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Place cakes on a wire rack and cool until room temperature.
7
Spread strawberry jam in a thin layer across the cooled sheet cake. Beginning at the long end, roll the cake into a spiral (don’t include the parchment paper in the roll). Then wrap plastic wrap around the roll and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. We refrigerated overnight, which is also fine.
8
Unwrap the cake roll, and use a serrated knife to cut the cake roll into 1/2 into to 1 inch thick slices.
9
Line a 3 to 4 quart bowl with plastic wrap, extending up and over the sides of the bowl.
10
Line the bowl with cake slices. Feel free to squish the cake to make them fit together without any holes. Continue until you’ve covered the bottom and sides of the bowl. You may need to cut the top row of cake to make it even with the edge of the bowl.
11
Prepare the cheesecake filling according the directions. Stir in the vanilla and almond extract if you’d like. (Note: We used the JELLO no-bake classic cheesecake, because it was fast and cheap. While it did taste good covered in cake, it did not taste like cheesecake exactly. The chef suggested next time we try the Philadelphia Cream Cheese no-bake filling.) Then fold in chopped freeze dried strawberries.
12
Spoon/pour the filling into the cake bowl. Use a spatula to smooth.
13
Finally, press the 9-inch round of cake on top of the filling, trimming it if necessary. (Note: we trimmed the cake to fit inside the cake outer layer, because the cheesecake filling didn’t fill our big bowl to the rim)
14
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate to set the filling.
15
When ready to serve, remove the plastic wrap from the bowl. Place a plate on top of the bowl, then flip the bowl so that the cake rests on the plate. Gently lift the bowl and peel the plastic wrap if it doesn’t come off with the bowl. Serve immediately. Can be kept in the fridge for about a week.
Categories:Dessert
Wed to a Chef
