Laura the Gastronaut > Julia Child > Desserts > Almond Custard with Chocolate

Charlotte Basque

April 12, 2021 | Updated August 16, 2023 | Laura

✽ Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I | Julia Child ✽

Julia Child Recipe 172 | 356 recipes to go!

✽ Charlotte Basque [Almond Custard with Chocolate], p. 608

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✽ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.

✽ You can buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I which contains these recipes here. (affiliate link)

The purpose of this Julia Child section of my blog is to document my journey of learning how to cook. To show my successes, my failures, and what I learned along the way.

Since I didn't create these recipes (if only!), I do not post exact amounts of ingredients or word-for-word instructions. If any of these recipes spark your interest, I highly recommend you buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link). It's a great investment and learning tool and contains hundreds of classic recipes.

I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts, learn something new, and leave inspired to try a new recipe. Bon appétit!

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✽ Butter Count: +17 TB

✽ Cost: $14.58 [~$1.62 per serving]

Check out the total Julia Child butter count & cost here!

→ Looking for a different Julia Child recipe? Here's a list of all of the completed and pending Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipes!

IS THIS RECIPE MY WORST ENEMY??

This recipe tested all of my patience. All of it. I made it three times and finally had to accept that this was going to be the outcome. The first two times I made this recipe, I followed it exactly as I always do, and it was a complete fail.

The third time, I made some adjustments to the recipe so that it would turn out a little better. Could this just really be a bad Julia recipe? Or am I missing something? Probably the second option.

You see, this recipe is another ladyfinger-lined mold. It's actually a variation recipe to Charlotte Malakoff aux Fraises. The filling of the Charlotte Malakoff is very thick and set when put into the fridge overnight. This allowed it to be unmolded.

However, the filling of the Charlotte Basque is a light custard sauce (crème anglaise)- extremely runny! It didn't set at all. This just created a HUGE mess when trying to unmold it.

I had some comments saying that the Charlotte Basque is not supposed to be unmolded, but I believe with all my being that it is supposed to be and here's why.

First, this recipe is a variation to a Charlotte Malakoff which is an unmolded dessert. While the Charlotte Basque doesn't specify whether to unmold or not, neither does the second Charlotte Malakoff in the book (but I know for sure that Malakoff is unmolded). This means the Charlotte Basque is stuck right in the middle of all these beautiful unmolded ladyfinger-lined desserts. You would think they would have said "serve out of dish" if not meant to be unmolded due to the location in the book.

Second, Julia says to line the mold as in the master recipe. This involves cutting the ladyfingers in a specific way so that you get a pretty dessert when unmolded. Why go through the trouble of making it pretty if it's just going to be at the bottom of the mold and nobody will ever see it?

Third, the wax paper. The lining instructions say to place a piece of wax paper at the bottom of the mold which its purpose is the help unmold the dessert. I don't believe there would be a need for wax paper if we are just eating out of the container.

Lastly, there are so very few pictures on the internet of this dessert which is weird! One of the pictures shows an unmolded dessert. The other is from a blog where the girl also unmolded it but put it in the freezer so it would set.

Despite all this unmolding talk, even if the Charlotte Basque was meant to stay in its mold, it is still wayyy too runny! So runny in fact that the ladyfinger-lined mold just fell apart immediately after adding the filling.

There's also supposed to be layers of ladyfingers between the filling, but that couldn't happen because the ladyfingers just floated right up to the top! I'm completely confused by this dessert. Something just doesn't seem right to me.

Have you made a Charlotte Basque before or eaten one? Please, let me know!

✽ Laura's Rating: 6 [recipe-wise: 0]

✽ Brian's Rating: 6.5

This dessert is actually delicious which is a shame I can't get it right. If you are okay with eating it out of a bowl with a spoon then this will no means be the worst thing you will eat.

As mentioned above, I altered the recipe the third time I made it. Keep reading to see what I did so that it would stay put!

Looking for more Julia Child dessert recipes?

→ Check out all of the dessert recipes that I've completed so far!

Find these facts plus more on Kiddle.

✽ What is a Charlotte?

A Charlotte is a cake-like dessert that can be served either hot or cold. The mold is lined with either bread, ladyfingers (biscuits/cookies), or sponge cake. The mold is then filled with fruit or custard.

✽ What is the first written recipe of a Charlotte?

The earliest known recipe for a Charlotte is from Maria Rundell's New System of Domestic Cookery.

✽ Why is it called Charlotte?

Historians are not for sure where the name Charlotte came from. Some say it may be a form of the old English word, 'Charlyt' which means 'a dish of custard.' Others say taht the French chef, Marie-Antoine Carême, named it after Charlotte of Prussia or Queen Charlotte (George III's wife).

✽ Step 1: Make Custard

The first thing you have to do for this recipe is make 4 cups of chocolate-flavored crème anglaise [light custard sauce].

Since this was my third attempt, I made a couple changes here. I put in half of the amount of milk, and I increased the amount of cornstarch. I put the custard in the fridge for hours in hopes that it would thicken up enough to hold. It did thicken up some but still really runny.

✽ Step 2: Cream Butter & Mix Ingredients Together

Butter and pulverized almonds are creamed together, and the custard sauce is beaten in along with almond extract and rum.

Now, here's where things got... uh, creative. I put the entire mixing bowl into the freezer overnight. In the morning, all of the filling had completely froze. Perfect!

I lined my mold with homemade ladyfingers and allowed the filling to slightly thaw. I scooped it into the mold quickly with alternating ladyfinger layers.

I then threw it back into the freezer because the filling was melting fast! Thirty minutes later, I pulled it out, unmolded it, and quickly snapped some pictures. By the end of the photo shoot, the ladyfingers were beginning to succumb to the melting custard.

The frozen custard makes this dessert taste almost like an ice cream cake. YUM! A very tasty ending to a very exhausting recipe. We are finally moving on with the dessert chapter. Woo hoo!

*This blog, Laura The Gastronaut, and this post were/are not endorsed or supported by Julia Child or The Julia Child Foundation.

Category: Julia Child, Desserts & Cakes Cuisine: French
Keywords: julia child charlotte basque, charlotte basque recipe, chocolate charlotte recipe

✽ Did you make this recipe too?
→ Let me know by leaving a comment below and sharing on Instagram. Tag @laurathegastronaut and hashtag it #laurathegastronaut.

More Charlotte Recipes:

✽ Charlotte Malakoff aux Fraises (beautiful Charlotte dessert made with strawberries)
✽ Charlotte Malakoff au Chocolat (perfect recipe for chocolate lovers)
✽ Charlotte Chantilly aux Fraises (a light, fluffy, fruity, and delicious dessert)
→ Check out all of the completed Julia Child dessert recipes!

✽ You can find this recipe and all the other Julia Child recipes I make in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I (affiliate link). Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.

✽ Check out my Julia Child Recipe Checklist to see a list of all my completed and pending recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking!

Bon appétit!

April 12, 2021 by Laura Ehlers

*This Charlotte Basque blog post may contain Amazon affiliate links. These link to products that I personally use and recommend. If you purchase anything using my links, it will not cost you anything. It will though give laurathegastronaut.com some financial support which helps me keep this blog running. Thank you for reading my blogs and your continued support.