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Charlotte Malakoff au ChocolatCharlotte Malakoff au Chocolat
June 10, 2020 | Updated December 16, 2022 | Laura
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✽ Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I | Julia Child ✽
Julia Child Recipe 116 | 412 recipes to go!
✽ Charlottè Malakoff au Chocolat [Almond Cream with Chocolate], p. 607
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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.
What you will find on my blog is:
✽ Butter Count & Cost Total
✽ How the Recipe Tasted
✽ Answers to Questions about Recipe
✽ Fun Facts about Recipe or an Ingredient Used
✽ The Recipe Process
✽ Step-by-Step and Final Photos of Recipe
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 & Cost: Charlotte Malakoff au Chocolat
✽ Butter Count: +16 TB
✽ Cost: $13.96 [~$1.55 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!
Delicious & Elegant Chocolate Dessert
This recipe is for all of you that thought the last Charlottè Malakoff looked delicious but are not much of a fruit person. As much as I like fruit, I do get it, and it seems Julia did too.
So here is the exact same recipe but this time- you guessed it- with chocolate.
My husband liked this one much more while I liked the strawberry one much more. It all depends on your taste preference. Just know that both are absolutely delicious and beautiful.
You cannot go wrong with either.
Charlotte Malakoff Recipe: Questions
✽ Charlotte Malakoff au Chocolat (Almond Cream with Chocolate) vs. Charlotte Malakoff aux Fraises (Almond Cream with Strawberries)
There's a few differences between these two recipes, but they are quite similar. They are both lined with orange liqueur-dipped ladyfingers and both are filled with almond cream. The chocolate one, however, has melted chocolate and coffee folded into it with less orange liqueur used. The strawberries are completely omitted from the chocolate dessert.
✽ What are ladyfingers?
Ladyfingers are my worst enemy. Only kidding.. kind of. Ladyfingers are also known as sponge fingers. They are sponge cake biscuits that are dry, light, sweet, and egg-based.
Ladyfingers were born in the late 1400s at the court of Duchy of Savoy. The King of France was coming for a visit! They would later become the official court biscuit.
Ladyfingers do not contain leavening agents such as baking powder or baking soda. The folded in egg whites will provide the sponginess. The batter made with beaten egg yolks, fluffy egg whites, and flour is piped onto a baking sheet in long finger-like shapes. A bit of powdered sugar is dusted on top to give a slight crust.
I've had such a time when it comes to perfecting my ladyfingers. And please don't tell Julia, but unless you are on a mission to 'Master the Art of French Cooking', just go buy your ladyfingers at the store.
✽ How many calories are in a Charlotte Malakoff au Chocolat?
Okay, first I just want to apologize that I did this. A dessert that uses 1/2 pound of butter, 2 cups of whipping cream, and is lined in ladyfingers.. WOW. I'm not usually the type to calculate and count calories especially when it comes to Julia Child recipes, but I just had to know.
I calculated the calories based on a full recipe that includes 24 ladyfingers and is topped with the 2 cups of whipped cream. I found that this Chocolate Charlotte Malakoff to have a whopping 9,452 calories in it. *Insert wide-eyed shocked face here.* The recipe says it serves 8-10 people making each serving between 945 - 1,181 calories.
Did I still eat it? Yep. Will I make this often? Nope. But that's more of an issue of having to make ladyfingers again rather than the calorie content.
Looking for more Julia Child dessert recipes to read about?
→ Check out all of the dessert recipes that I've completed so far!
Fun Facts about Chocolate
✽ What's the differnce between bittersweet and semisweet chocolate?
Bittersweet chocolate is going to have less sugar than semisweet. It also contains more chocolate liquor.
In the United States, there are no regulations on bittersweet and semisweet chocolate meaning there is a lot more variation. In Europe, the baking chocolate is regulated so that every single semisweet variety must contain more sugar and less chocolate liquor than bittersweet chocolate.
✽ What is baking chocolate?
Baking chocolate is also known as bitter chocolate, cooking chocolate, and unsweetened chocolate.
Baking chocolate is sometimes a lower quality than the chocolate you would eat on its own. This is because sometimes part of the cocoa butter is swapped with other fats that do not need to be tempered making it easier to cook with.
✽ What is chocolate liquor?
Chocolate liquor is made from cacao beans containing both cocoa solids and cocoa butter. This is not to be confused with chocolate liqueur which is an alcoholic drink flavored with chocolate or cacao liquor which is the fermented juice from a cacao tree.
How to Make Charlotte Malakoff au Chocolat
✽ Step 1: Make Ladyfingers
The ladyfinger process went much smoother this time around. I decided to go ahead and make a double batch from the get-go. This proved to be a wise decision as I ran out of ladyfingers about halfway through making the mold. Again, I do not own an actual Charlottè mold so that is probably the reason why I need more.
I still need a lot more practice as my ladyfingers do end up coming out too fat and thin. Hopefully, one day soon I'll master it.
✽ Step 2: Dip Ladyfingers & Line Mold
Because my ladyfingers came out of the oven less-than-perfect, it makes dipping them in the orange liqueur near impossible. They get way too soggy, and I really struggle with keeping them standing upright. Perhaps I really need to invest in an actual mold. I think that would also help my problem.
✽ Step 3: Cream Butter and Sugar
Next step is creaming together a large amount of butter with sugar, orange liqueur, almond extract, and pulverized almonds. I mean, how could this combination of ingredients be bad?
✽ Step 4: Add Chocolate
As mentioned previously, there are only a few small differences between the two recipes. One, semi-sweet chocolate that has been melted in strong coffee is folded into the almond cream. Two, you only use ¼ cup of orange liqueur instead of ½ cup.
✽ Step 5: Fold in Whipped Cream
One day maybe I'll also decide to get out the mixer when whipping up 2 cups of whipped cream, but for now, I'll use it as my workout so I don't feel as guilty eating this delicious dessert filled with so much cream, sugar, and butter.
✽ Step 6: Fill Ladyfinger-lined Mold & Chill
The third and last difference for this chocolate dessert is that the strawberries are left out. The chocolate almond cream is added to the mold with ladyfinger layers in-between. It then goes into the fridge for at least 6 hours to set.
✽ Step 6: Unmold & Decorate
My dessert did just plop right out of the mold perfectly. I am now worried to make my third one because I may be pushing my luck here. This is such a fancy dessert and once you get the ladyfingers made, it is all downhill. Another wonderful dessert recipe by Julia!
Julia suggests this dessert be served with whipped cream or custard sauce.
*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 and Cakes Cuisine: French
Keywords: charlotte malakoff recipe, julia child dessert recipes, julia child dessert, charlotte malakoff recipe julia child, chocolate charlotte malakoff, charlotte malakoff with chocolate
✽ 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 (swap the chocolate for strawberries for fruit lovers)
✽ Charlotte Chantilly aux Fraises (this Charlotte Chantilly is like a Charlotte Malakoff but the inside is filled with egg custard instead of buttercream)
✽ Charlotte Basque (making this chocolate charlotte gave me trouble, but it was still really delicious)
→ Check out all of the completed Julia Child dessert and cake 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!
June 10, 2020 by Laura Ehlers
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