Blueberry Lemon Charlotte Royale

For the June daring bakers challenge Rebecca from BakeNQuilt.com challenged us to make Charlotte Royale and Charlotte Russe from scratch.

I know this looks like some kind of crazy ice cream cake.  It's actually a creamy blueberry jello type filling covered in lemon cake that's been soaked in blueberry jam!  The outer cake layer is made of spirals, created by spreading blueberry jam on a thin flat cake and rolling it up, freezing, then slicing.  I actually didn't do my best work with this challenge.  I had to bake the lemon cake twice because the first time I over-baked it and it was too dry to roll up without breaking.  Then I thinned out my blueberry jam too much and it soaked into the cake so the spiral detail had a messy look to it.  All that aside, it tasted great, and I was really happy with the blueberry bavarian cream filling!

My cake won't win any beauty contests (and what is up with this photo that won't load properly no matter what I try?!) but in flavor it can definitely hold it's own!

This recipe is my interpretation of Rebecca's Charlotte Royale recipe challenge.  For the original recipe, you can find the challenge PDF here!

Blueberry Lemon Charlotte Royale
Serves 6.

Lemon Sponge Cake
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons oil
A touch of yellow food color, if desired
Juice plus the zest of one large lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of baking soda
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a jelly-roll sheet pan about 17" by 12" with baking spray and line the pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat eggs with a hand mixer on high for 5 minutes until light. Gradually add sugar until combined.

Add oil and gel food coloring until the desired shade of yellow is achieved. Add lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix briefly.

Gradually add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the liquid ingredients. Mix until combined.  Pour your batter into the prepared pan (it will be a very thin layer).

Bake for 13-15 minutes until the cake is set and the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Do not over bake or the cake will be dry and will crack when you roll it.

Meanwhile, select a round bowl that holds about 6 cups.  You will be lining the bowl with plastic wrap, lining the bowl with cake slices, filling with bavarian cream, and covering with a round base of cake.  Once chilled and set, you'll flip it over onto a platter, remove the plastic wrap, garnish and serve :)

While the cake is still hot, you will need to set aside a piece for the base and roll the remainder in a towel as described here:.  Quickly flip the cake upside down out of the pan and remove the parchment paper.  Trace the round top of your bowl onto half of the cake.  This will be used for the base. Trim the remaining cake into a rectangle.

While the cake is still hot, roll the remaining rectangle of cake up tightly in a dishtowel. Roll from the longest side with the darkest side of the cake on the inside. Cool the rolled cake/towel on a wire rack.

Assembly stage 1

You will need 1/2 cup blueberry jam, room temp and whipped to a spreadable consistency.  Warm slightly if needed to soften.

When ready to fill, gently unroll the cake and leave it on top of the towel. Spread up to ½ cup of blueberry jam in a thin layer on top of the cooled cake, leaving it on the towel.

Roll up the cake as tightly as you can in plastic wrap and then foil and freeze until firm enough to slice, at least a couple of hours.

Lightly oil your 6-cup round bowl and line it as smoothly as possible with plastic wrap, leaving a small overhang of plastic. 

Slice the cake roll into ¼ inch slices. To line the bowl with cake slices, place 1 slice in the center and place other slices around it in a single layer as tightly as possible to try to avoid gaps.

The width of your bowl and the width of your slices will determine how far up the bowl you can get. You may not get all the way up the sides and will have to trim to create a clean edge. If your spirals do go all the way up, trim the last ones even with the edge of the bowl. If not, you can trim them when you put in the cream.

If there are any gaps between the spirals, plug them with trimmings from unused spirals. If you are using a glass bowl, you can hold it up to the light and see where light comes through. You want to plug these spots to prevent the Bavarian Cream from leaking through.

Blueberry Bavarian Cream

12 ounces frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup blueberry Pom juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 ounce unflavored gelatin powder (1 packet)
1 cup heavy cream

Combine frozen berries, sugar and 2 tablespoons juice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer 15 minutes, uncovered, stirring often. Strain and press mixture through a wire mesh strainer into a bowl (you'll have about 1 cup juice). Cool to room temperature.

Combine 1/4 cup juice and gelatin in a small saucepan and let stand 5 minutes. Melt on medium-low heat just until liquid. Whisk into your blueberry juice. Using an electric mixer at high speed, beat heavy cream in a bowl until stiff peaks form.  Fold your blueberry mixture into the whipped cream.

Assembly stage 2

Spoon the blueberry cream into the lined bowl until it comes up to the top of the bowl or to the top spirals. Trim the top spirals above the cream if necessary.

Place the cake round on top of the cream. Press down gently on the edges of the cake circle so it makes contact with the edge of the spirals.

Cover tightly and refrigerate until set, at least 8 hours.

To unmold, invert onto a plate and lift away the bowl, tugging gently on the plastic wrap to release it. To prevent drying out, leave the plastic wrap in place until serving. If desired, decorate with whipped cream and fresh fruit.

Enjoy!