Charlotte Russe

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This charlotte has a chocolate filling inside. Like a bavarian, it is set by gelatin and lightened by whipped cream. It however does not have a creme anglaise base. So to be technically correct, let's just call it a "chocolate filling".


CHOCOLATE CHARLOTTE RUSSE
Yield: 2 single-serve portions

Ingredients
5-6 ladyfingers per serving

1g unflavored gelatin
12g cold water
69g milk chocolate
120g heavy cream
Ice cubes for ice bath

Whipped cream
Chocolate shavings

Procedure
1. Line ringmold with lady fingers. Put some in the bottom, too. --- It takes some time to fit them all snuggly so they won't collapse. It would be easier to cut the lady fingers so they all have flat bottoms and become more stable. If you don't have solo serving ringmolds, you can use tin cans - just remove the top and bottom.
2. Dissolve gelatin in cold water. Let stand for 5 mins. to bloom.
3. Chop milk chocolate and place in a bowl. Set aside.
4. Prepare ice bath: Put ice, a little bit of water, and rocksalt (optional) in a bowl where the bowl of chopped chocolate can fit in.
5. In a saucepot, scald 1/3 of the cream. Add bloomed gelatin and stir until dissolved, around 30 seconds.
6. Pour cream mixture over chocolate. Let stand 1-2 mins. then stir until smooth.
7. Cool over ice bath. --- The chocolate mixture will gel and get stiff. Do not be scared, just leave it over the ice bath and work on the next step. It will soften again after adding the cream.
8. Whip remaining cream until medium peak.
9. Fold in cream in the chocolate mixture. --- Remove the chocolate mixture from the ice bath, dry the bottom of the bowl. "Sacrifice" 1/3 of the whipped cream by mixing it with the chocolate mixture. Next, fold the remaining 2/3 of the whipped cream in 2 batches.
10. Sieve. --- This is an optional step but it will make your filling smoother.
11. Put inside ring mold lined with ladyfingers and top with whipped cream.
12. Put in the refrigerator for about 2 hours or until set.
13. Remove ring mold carefully. Garnish with chocolate shavings and tie a ribbon around the whole thing.