loveFOOD does Bake Off! Can Charlotte make a Charlotte Royale?

This week marked the penultimate episode of our beloved Bake Off, and consequently loveFOOD’s last attempt at the infamous ‘technical challenge’. See how Charlotte fares with the aptly named Charlotte Royale…

Building 'the brain'

I agree with the wonderful Sue Perkins: “I’ve seen one before, and it looks like a brain,” she told the four remaining contestants on Tuesday’s semi-final, when they were faced with making Mary Berry’s Charlotte Royale recipe. Despite sharing a name with it, this gelatinous and brightly coloured French delicacy is not my kind of pudding; but at least it involved making Swiss rolls, which is marvellous fun.

I followed Mary Berry’s recipe and allowed myself two hours for the assembly of Charlotte, with an extra half hour planned for decoration next morning. Making the Swiss rolls went without a hitch – I used Kimberley’s top tip (roll it up straight out of the oven, so that the sponge is more pliable when it comes to rolling it up for real) to get my swirl as tight as possible, and was careful not to use too much jam. I must confess to not making my own jam (which they had to do on Bake Off), and so was already at an advantage to Kimberley, Ruby, Frances and Beca.

A very Bavarian cream

Next, I had to make the Parma Violet-coloured ‘bavarois’ – a sort of set custard, thickened with gelatine. I’d never made it before – it involves a lot of ingredients/mess/time – and so relied solely on Mary Berry’s instructions. Basically, you have to blitz some raspberries; sieve the resulting purée to make it smooth; combine that with a simple custard made from hot milk, sugar and egg yolks; plop a surprisingly large amount of softened gelatine into the custard (nine whole leaves!); cook the custard (but don’t let it boil, or else you’ll kill the gelatine); add the raspberry purée; allow the mixture to cool for half an hour; and then carefully fold in nearly half a litre of whipped cream.

Now let me tell you, making a bavarois is not easy – it took me well over an hour including cooling time, I created two sink-loads of washing up, and by the time I’d finished I was covered in purple stains. Plus the smell! It was a floral yet porky aroma, which can probably be blamed on the sheer quantity of gelatine used. The more time I spent with Charlotte, the more she put me off. For me, the ingredients just didn’t seem to work well together.

A gloopy jigsaw

With my bavarois cooling in the corner, I set to lining the base of a 2 litre bowl with slices of Swiss roll (remember to cling film the bowl first), trying my best not to leave any gaps. But lining a bowl with round things is harder than lining a bowl with rectangular things (alla summer pudding), and I struggled a bit with my cakey jigsaw. Plus there wasn’t enough Swiss roll to go round, and I found myself cutting thinner and thinner slices to make it last. Nevertheless, after two hours of toil I ended up with a Swiss roll-lined bowl, filled with a thick-ish purple bavarois. Into the fridge she went, for an overnight stay.

Next morning, I successfully managed to turn my Charlotte Royale out onto a plate. It had set well, but the jam inside the Swiss rolls had splurged a bit, and there were far too many gaps for my liking – goodness knows how Kimberley managed to fit her Swiss roll slices together so snugly. To finish this intriguing dessert, you have to glaze the whole thing with what can only be described as gloop. In actual fact, it’s sugar syrup mixed with arrowroot – one of the most unattractive concoctions I’ve ever made. I coated poor Charlotte with the gloop, then finished her off with a few piped whipped cream stars and some strawberries for good measure.

How did it taste?

The result? Well, it cut well and looked pretty much as it should have done. But I’m afraid I had to spit out my first mouthful – everything from the texture to the smell, appearance and flavour put me off, and it’s probably one of the worst desserts I’ve ever eaten. But I really, really don’t like wobbly, creamy puddings (not even crème caramel or panna cotta), so perhaps it’s not fair to judge Charlotte Royale on my taste buds alone. Indeed, at least four or five of my fellow colleagues wolfed their portion down, and claimed to love it.

What we've learnt

loveFOOD editor Andrew and I have had a ball attempting the Bake Off technical challenges, and have both since made some of the bakes (especially that delicious couronne) again, just for fun. But if there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s not to judge too quickly from the comfort of one’s sofa: criticising the Bake Off contestants for not producing perfection every time is easy, but when the clock’s ticking, you’ve only half the method in front of you (remember, Andrew and I were always working from the full recipe), and a producer is barking questions at you every five minutes, then it’s easy to see how mistakes are made. And if you don’t believe me, try making your own Charlotte Royale (complete with homemade jam) in just over two hours!

Have you been attempting the Bake Off technical challenges? How well do you think team loveFOOD did, over all? Talk to us in the comments box below.

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