Chocolate & coffee charlotte cake

I made this charlotte cake a few weeks ago for my father's birthday, who as you can imagine, loves chocolate and coffee. So here is the recipe for a very simple but very good charlotte, composed of course of a coffee-soaked ladyfinger cookie, a chocolate mousse, a crunchy chocolate layer, a coffee crémeux, and for the decoration of some meringue sticks. By the way, if you don't like meringue or if you are short of time, you can also prepare a chocolate chip whipped cream to pipe it on the charlotte. For the coffee crémeux, if you don't have any trablit, you can use coffee flavouring, to be dosed according to its strength and your taste.
 
 

 
 Prep time : 1h30 + about 1h30 cooking
 For a 18 to 20cm charlotte | 8 servings :

 

Coffee crémeux:

 2g gelatin
 26g sugar
 45g egg yolks
 160g liquid cream with 30 or 35% fat content
 20g trablit (coffee extract)
 
 Put the gelatine to be rehydrated in a bowl of cold water.
 Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar.
 
 

 
 Heat the liquid cream, then pour it over the eggs.
 
 

 
 Put everything back into the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until it reaches a temperature of 85°C.
 Remove from the heat, add the wrung out gelatine and trablit.
 
 

 
 Then, two options: either you pour the cream in a mold with a diameter smaller than your charlotte mold and you freeze it, or if you don't have room in the freezer like me, you put a plastic wrap on it and let it cool in the refrigerator.
 
 

Ladyfinger cookie :

 120g egg whites
 100g sugar
 80g egg yolks
 100g flour
 Powdered sugar
 Cocoa powder
 
 Start by preparing a French meringue: whisk the egg whites until stiff, then squeeze them by adding the sugar three times and gradually increasing the speed of the food processor. The meringue is ready when it is smooth, shiny and bird beaky.
 

 
 Then add the egg yolks and whisk again for a few seconds, just long enough to incorporate them.
 
 

 
 Finish by delicately incorporating the sifted flour with a maryse.
 
 

 
 When the dough is smooth, put it in a piping bag with a 10 to 12mm plain tip.
 
 Pipe (on a baking sheet lined with baking paper) a cartouchière (be careful to have enough ladyfinger cookie to go around your circle) and two circles of cookie 18 to 20cm in diameter (depending on the size of the circle you are going to use for the assembly).
 
 Sprinkle a first time with powdered sugar, wait two minutes and sprinkle a second time, then a third time with cocoa.
 
 

 

 
 Bake in the preheated oven at 180°C for about 10 minutes (the cookie should rise when a finger is pressed into it, but it should be very soft). When it comes out of the oven, put the cookie on a wire rack and let it cool down.
 
 

 
 When it has cooled, cut the cartouchière on one side to have a well leveled base, then place them inside the circle. Place a first circle of ladyfinger cookie cut to the right size in the center.
 
 

 
 

Soaking :

 One expresso
 
 Use a brush to lightly soak the cookie with the coffee.
 
 

 
 

Chocolate crispy layer :

 55g hazelnut praliné
 35g dark chocolate
 45g crêpes dentelles (very thin cookies)
 
 Melt the chocolate, then add the praliné. Then add the crumbled crêpes dentelles.
 Spread the crispy layer on the ladyfinger cookie and put it in the refrigerator.
 
 

 
 

Chocolate mousse

 110g 70% dark chocolate mousse
 75g of liquid cream with 30 or 35% fat (1)
 150g of liquid cream with 30 or 35% fat (2)
 
 Gently melt the chocolate.
 Heat the cream (1), then pour it three times over the melted chocolate, stirring well after each addition to obtain a smooth, glossy ganache (if necessary, you can use a hand blender).
 
 

 
 Whip the liquid cream (2) into a not too firm whipped cream.
 
 

 
 Take a large spoonful of whipped cream and mix it with the ganache. Then, delicately add the remaining whipped cream using a maryse to obtain a homogeneous mousse.
 
 

 
 Pour half of the mousse over the crispy layer.
 
 

 
 Then, if you have frozen the crémeux, place it on the mousse. If it has cooled in the refrigerator, pipe it or spread it with a spoon directly onto the mousse.
 
 

 
 Cover it with the second ladyfinger cookie circle, soak it with coffee and finish by covering it with the rest of the chocolate mousse.
 
 

 
 Put the charlotte in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.
 
 

Swiss meringue:

 100g egg whites 
 100g caster sugar 
 100g powdered sugar 
 
 Whisk the egg whites, gradually adding the two mixed sugars. When the whites begin to stiffen, place them on a water bath and continue to whisk until the meringue reaches 55°C. It should be very shiny and firm. Remove the meringue from the heat, and continue to whip the meringue until it cools completely (it takes quite a while, about a quarter of an hour).
 
 

 
 When the meringue is cold, put it in a piping bag with a 10mm plain tip and pipe sticks on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
 
 

 
 Bake in the preheated oven at 95°C for about 1 hour, depending on whether you prefer a crunchier or softer meringue. 
 Let it cool down, then break into pieces of different sizes. 
 Cover the charlotte with pieces of meringue, sprinkle with cocoa, and enjoy!