Apple Charlotte and Custard

Nigel Barden
5 hours ago
4 min read

by Regula Ysewijn from Pride and Pudding: The history of British puddings, savoury and sweet (Murdoch Books)

Photography Regula Ysewijn

The apple charlotte is a relative of the summer pudding. Both are puddings made in a mould lined with slices of bread, and both hold some kind of fruit. It is said that the apple charlotte is named after Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III, who might have been the patron of the apple growers.

Some have claimed this pudding was invented by the French chef Carême in 1802, and that he published a recipe for ‘charlotte a la parisienne’ and later changed it to ‘charlotte russe’ when he worked for Tsar Alexander of Russia; however, in that same year a recipe for charlotte of apples was published by John Mollard (The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined, 1802). Moreover, Carême only published his first book in 1815, not 1802, and as far as I know the pudding does not appear in it. In 1802 Carême was an 18-year-old apprentice, working for a pastry chef who encouraged him to learn to read and write. Hardly a time at which he would write a book.

Although the earliest recipe in print I could find is John Mollard’s, it is very possible this pudding did appear earlier in manuscript recipe books. What we do know is that it is more likely that the apple charlotte is an English invention after all.

Makes enough for 1 charlotte mould or 16 x 10 x 7.5cm (6¼ x 4 x 3 inch) loaf (bar) tin.

Ingredients

3 cooking apples, such as granny smith or bramley, about 500g (1lb 2oz), peeled and cored

5 tablespoons apricot jam

60ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) brandy or dark rum

1 loaf of stale plain white bread, about 550 g (1lb 4oz)

50g (1¾ oz) butter, melted

sugar, for sprinkling

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Generously grease the mould or loaf tin with butter and place a disc or strip of baking paper in the bottom.

2 Chop up the apples and put them in a saucepan with the apricot jam and brandy. Cook until soft and pulpy. You might need a splash of water to prevent the apples from burning. Allow to cool in the pan.

3 Cut thick slices of bread in 5 cm (2 inch) wide rectangles the same height as the side of the mould and use a pastry brush to generously coat them with the melted butter.

4 Place the bread in the mould, overlapping the edges a little so there are no gaps. Finally put a disc or strip of bread onto the bottom of the mould, making sure there are no gaps.

5 Scoop the apple mixture into the bread-lined mould, then close the top with a final few slices of buttered bread and sprinkle some sugar on top.

6 Bake in the middle of the oven for 30–40 minutes until golden brown, as you prefer your toast. When ready to serve, turn the mould onto a plate and allow to stand for 5 minutes before attempting to remove the mould.

7 Serve with clotted cream, vanilla ice cream, or custard sauce for the custard lovers (see recipe below)

Custard Sauce

Gloriously flavoursome full-fat milk and cream and deep orange coloured egg yolks will give the flavour you need to make this a truly enjoyable sauce. Mace is excellent as a flavouring, a bay leaf added to it gives a more spiced flavour. When using cinnamon, the flavour is quite similar to using vanilla, I find, but vanilla – now commonly used – was never traditional.

Makes about 2 litres (70 fl oz/8 cups)

Ingredients

10 egg yolks

500ml (17fl oz/2 cups) milk

500ml (17fl oz/2 cups) thick (double) cream

50g (1¾ oz) raw sugar

1 mace blade or cinnamon stick

1 bay leaf (optional)

Method

Whisk the egg yolks in a large bowl.

Bring the milk, cream, sugar, spice and bay leaf, if using, to a simmer in a saucepan.

Strain the hot milk mixture and discard the flavourings.

Pour a little of the hot mixture into the egg yolks and whisk thoroughly. Now continue to add the hot milk mixture in batches until fully incorporated and you get a smooth sauce.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a spatula until just thickened, making sure the eggs don’t scramble.

When just thickened, remove from the heat and pour into a cold sauceboat for serving. If you don’t want the custard to develop a skin, cover the sauceboat with plastic wrap.

Vanilla custard

Adding vanilla isn’t traditional to Britain but is delicious and often done today. Please use a real vanilla bean and not the essence, which has often not a seed of vanilla in it.

Split a vanilla bean lengthways and simmer with the milk and cream.

Take the bean out of the liquid when you are adding it to the egg yolks.

Keep the vanilla bean, rinse it gently and dry it.

It will still give off enough flavour to make your own vanilla sugar when placed in a jar with sugar.

Drinks tasted on air, alongside the dish: