Wild Blackberry Charlotte: An Easy Recipe

The end of summer, between mid-August and the end of September, is the peak season for blackberries. It is then possible to pick these berries on the roadside, in the countryside, or in forests to make jams or pies. If you are looking for a no-bake recipe, I suggest you discover how to prepare a wild blackberry charlotte.

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients needed to prepare a wild blackberry charlotte for 4 people:

400 g of blackberries.
500 g of cottage cheese.
75 g of sugar.
1 packet of vanilla sugar.
2 sheets of gelatin.
the juice of one lemon.
30 ladyfingers.
5 cl of kirsch, Grand Marnier, or another liqueur.

Note: if you are preparing this charlotte for children, replace the liqueur with red fruit juice or grenadine syrup.

Preparation of Gelatin

When preparing a charlotte with fromage blanc, like this wild blackberry charlotte, it is essential to add a gelling agent to ensure the charlotte holds its shape. Here is a reminder on how to use gelatin.

1- Soak the gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes until they soften.

2- Heat the lemon juice in a small saucepan.

3- As soon as the lemon juice simmers, wring out the gelatin sheets with your hands and place them in the saucepan.

4- Let the gelatin melt in the hot lemon juice, stirring until completely dissolved.

5- Let the lemon juice containing the gelatin cool slightly before adding it to the filling of your charlotte.

Preparation of the white cheese filling

For this wild blackberry charlotte recipe, I recommend preparing a very simple filling made with cottage cheese. This ingredient is less caloric than the heavy cream or mascarpone often used in fruit charlottes. This way, you will get a lighter dessert, but still just as delicious.

1- Pour the cottage cheese into a large bowl.

2- Add the sugar and vanilla sugar.

3- Incorporate the lemon juice containing the gelatin and mix well.

4- Sort and wash the blackberries under a stream of cold water. Set aside a small bowl of fruit for decoration and use the others for assembling the charlotte.

Assembling the charlotte

Assembling the wild blackberry charlotte is quite easy and quick to do. To facilitate unmolding, I recommend using an airtight charlotte mold like Tupperware, but you can also use a simple soufflé mold.

1- Pour the kirsch or another liqueur into a shallow plate and dilute the liqueur with 5 to 10 cl of water.

2- Dip the ladyfingers in this mixture and line the walls of the charlotte mold by placing the biscuits curved side against the mold.

3- Fill the charlotte mold as follows:
• a layer of fromage blanc.
• a layer of blackberries.
• an intermediate layer of liqueur-soaked biscuits.

4- Repeat step 3 so that you end with a layer of biscuits which will form the base of your charlotte.

5- Close the mold with its lid or with a plate on which you will place some weight.

Good to know

It is best to prepare this recipe the day before because the blackberry charlotte needs to set in the refrigerator for about 12 hours.

Just before serving, unmold the charlotte onto a serving dish and decorate the top of the cake with the reserved blackberries.

If you don't have a gelling agent like gelatin or agar-agar and are worried about the unmolding step, you can also prepare individual charlottes by assembling them in transparent verrines, as shown in the following photo.