Laura the Gastronaut > Julia Child > Desserts > Strawberry Cream

Charlotte Chantilly aux Fraises

July 2, 2021 | Updated August 16, 2023 | Laura

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

Julia Child Recipe 181 | 347 recipes to go!

✽ Charlotte Chantilly, aux Fraises [Strawberry Cream], 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: +1 TB

✽ Cost: $10.09 [~$1.12 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!

Ladyfingers, ladyfingers, and more ladyfingers

I should've been keeping up with how many ladyfingers I will make throughout this whole process. Whatever the exact number is, it is a lot. Ladyfingers are still my least favorite recipe to make out of this book, and I'm not really sure why. I guess I just don't enjoy the process. They are, however, absolutely delicious.

Okay, I was really nervous to make this recipe after my last dessert recipe, Charlotte Basque. I had to make it three times in order for me to feel okay counting it as a success (even then, it was still pretty iffy).

Long story short, the filling was wayyy too liquidy and my homemade ladyfingers were not enough to keep all the goodness inside. For the Charlotte Chantilly, Julia even starts the recipe off by saying that if all the steps aren't completed correcty, the dessert will collapse rather quickly. Oh boy.

In the end, my dessert collapsed rather quickly. I believe my egg yolks were well thickened, my cream was chilled, and everything went as it was supposed to, but I guess not. While it wasn't as big of a disaster as the Charlotte Basque, it still had its flaws.

I did some research and found that many people have documented themselves making this recipe. Unfortunately, a good chunk of those people served the dessert unmolded in dessert cups. I did, however, find two bloggers that made the ladyfingers. Both of which mentioned that their filling was not thick enough! Womp womp. While I still do not know what went wrong, at least I feel comforted by the fact that I'm not alone.

✽ Laura's Rating: 7

✽ Brian's Rating: 8.5

Despite this dessert looking mehh, it was delicious! Anything with Julia's strawberry sauce in it, is going to be amazing. This Charlotte Chantilly is definitely lighter than the previous Charlottes I've made which makes it perfect for a summertime treat. I'll probably just put it inside a dessert cup next time though.

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 AgHires.

✽ How many strawberries are consumed per person?

Americans eat about 3.4 pounds of fresh strawberries and 1.8 pounds of frozen strawberries every year.

✽ Which state produces the most strawberries?

California produces about 75% of America's strawberries. This is about 1 billion pounds produced every single year! Florida comes in second.

✽ How many seeds does a strawberry have?

Each strawberry has about 200 seeds.

✽ Step 1: Force Strawberries Through Sieve

The first task is forcing strawberries (or you can also use raspberries) through a sieve. You'll get this beautiful delicious sauce.

I love love this sauce. In fact, I put it on all types of desserts and use it in cocktails as well! The sauce is chilled until used.

✽ Step 2: Beat Eggs

Now sugar is beaten into egg yolks until the mixture turns pale yellow and it forms a ribbon when it falls back onto itself.

The mixture is placed over almost-simmering water and beaten until it becomes hot. Immediately the bowl with the egg mixture is placed in a bowl of ice water and folded until chilled.

Important to use a stainless steel bowl as a glass bowl has the potential to break during the temperature changes.

✽ Step 3: Beat Cream

Chilled whipping cream is now beaten until it forms stiff peaks. Use those arm muscles!

✽ Step 4: Fold In Strawberry Puree

The strawberry sauce is now folded into the chilled egg yolks. Then the whipping cream is folded into the mixture.

✽ Step 5: Chill

It is all poured into a ladyfinger-lined mold, chilled for at least 6 hours, unmolded, and decorated with strawberries

*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: charlotte chantilly recipe, julia child desserts, strawberry charlotte recipe, french desserts

✽ 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 (another beautiful and delicious strawberry charlotte)
✽ Charlotte Malakoff au Chocolat (a great charlotte option if you love chocolate)
✽ Charlotte Basque (a dessert recipe that gave me troubles but was very tasty)
→ 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!

July 2, 2021 by Laura Ehlers

*This Charlotte Chantilly aux Fraises 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.