double chocolate French charlotte

Directions

• Step 1 PREPARATION: to make the dark chocolate mousse which should take about 15 minutes, you will need a large saucepan filled with water with a smaller pot placed in the center. This is your double boiler to melt the chocolate without burning it. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Beat the egg whites until they are firm. Mix the melted dark chocolate with the egg yolks. Delicately insert the beaten egg whites in the chocolate-yolks mixture. Gently whisk from bottom to top until the mousse is homogenous. Store in the refrigerator.
• Step 2 For the white chocolate mousse which should take about 10 minutes, beat the cream into a whip cream with the electric mixer and melt the white chocolate in the double boiler with care as this part is a little bit more delicate. Add a little bit of water to the chocolate and make sure it melts slowly to become creamy. When ready, insert the whip cream, mix together, and place in the refrigerator.
• Step 3 ASSEMBLING THE CHARLOTTE: (around 20 minutes) Place the ladyfingers lightly soaked in milk or in coffee as shown on the picture below. Place one layer of ladyfingers flat at the bottom as well as one layer standing upright all around the charlotte mold. Just do as shown on the picture keeping in mind that the tighter the biscuits, the easier it will be to unmold. Pour one layer of white chocolate mousse, place a few ladyfingers bits over it, and then pour one layer of dark chocolate mousse on top. Soak 3 ladyfingers and lay them flat on top of the dark chocolate mousse. Store in the refrigerator a few hours as it is, that is the mold only half-filled. Then pour another white chocolate mousse layer. Finish up by the dark chocolate mousse layer topped with lightly soaked ladyfingers. Close the mold and store in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. During those 6 hours, turn the mold over once or twice.
• Step 4 UNMOLDING THE CHARLOTTE: If you don’t have any specific charlotte mold, you may use a mold for soufflé or even for a loaf or cake tin. In that case, the ladyfingers will all lay flat in the tin. For the storage in the refrigerator, you will need to keep pressure on the preparation by placing a plate and weight on top as the unmolding is the delicate part. In any case, the unmolding will take place just before serving as the charlotte is a dessert that may start running a little if unmolded too early… If the preparation is very cold and tends to stick to the sides, making it difficult to unmold, you may want to run a little warm water on the outer sides of the mold to help the descent. Nonetheless, if you use a regular charlotte mold, once you remove the cap at the top and slightly push with a tablespoon, the unmolding should not be a problem at all.