Apple Caramel Charlotte

I had been following the Heavenly Cake Bakers blog for a while. They are baking their way through Rose's Heavenly Cakes. I finally decided to see if I could join. I was told by Marie that I could and to just decide which cake I wanted to make my first one and let her know when I had a post up. I decided I wouldn't completely commit to making the Apple Caramel Charlotte because I wasn't sure if I was up for attempting a recipe that was 7 pages long. After giving it a few days thought I finally decided to give it a try figuring I would learn some things along the way even if it didn't turn out great. I read the recipe at least a couple times the whole way through and then read each section of the recipe prior to starting that step probably two or three times.

I started the cake Saturday afternoon. I poached the apples which was something I had never done before. I searched two different stores for a hard baking apple that was red like some of the ones mentioned in the beginning of the recipe, but ended up just using golden delicious and adding the red peel from a red delicious apple.

Then Saturday evening while watching the UT vs. Tech game I made the biscuit part of the cake, measured, and cut it up into the different pieces needed for the bottom and sides of the cake. I think I should have pulled mine out of the oven a little earlier than 7 minutes, but I was probably a little distracted by the game. Note to self, it's probably not the best idea to bake a cake during a potentially stressful football game.

After the game where the Longhorns fortunately managed to pull out a win I strained some apricot preserves and stacked the rectangular pieces of cake. One side was slightly thicker than the other, and I hoped that wouldn't cause a problem. At the time of stacking I didn't understand the reason for spreading preserves on the top piece, but when I started putting the whole thing together it made sense.

Sunday morning I had planned to go for a bike ride, but then my friend Alice asked if I would be up for going in the late afternoon instead. That worked out well because it gave me time to finish the cake the first. I thought I would end up with time for grocery shopping too, but I underestimated just how much work I had left to do. I knew today would be the day for lots of challenges. The first part was relatively easy. It was just tedious cutting the biscuit and placing them around the spring form pan and placing the round piece in the center.

Next came the hard parts - the bavarian cream. First you make a caramel, and I think mine might have ended up a touch burnt. I think my candy thermometer doesn't work with small amounts of liquid. Fortunately I didn't wait for it to hit the temperature or it would have been very burnt. Here it is with the apple poaching liquid poured in. Notice the number of pans on the stove. I had to go to my old pans to find enough small pans to make this cream, and I still had to hand wash a couple of the pans for later use.

So, here's where I made my big mistake. And, when things start going wrong I often forget about taking pictures. The recipe said to set the caramel custard aside to allow it to cool, and I decided that would be a good time for a break to eat lunch and one other thing. When I came back to the mixture it was already starting to harden. So, I quickly started trying to get the Italian Meringue done which is another problem area for me. The sugar always seems to get hard too quick when adding it to the egg whites, and I just don't really know what the meringue should look like after the hot sugar is mixed in so I don't know if it worked correctly. Fortunately I'm going to cake baking and icing classes in a couple weeks, and I've been told that we're going to cover that.

After finishing the meringue I decided that I needed to do something to get my custard back to liquid form so I stuck it in the microwave very briefly. There was no time for starting over on that step, I couldn't really work with what I had in that state, and I didn't want to give up. I also ended up with issues whipping the cream which should have been one of the easiest things. I got distracted for less than a minutes and ended up whipping it too long. I had another cup of heavy cream in the fridge so I dumped what I had and redid that. I got the filling in the cake and stuck it in the fridge.

Finally the most rewarding part was getting to the last couple steps of laying the apples in a rose shape and brushing on the glaze. That part was really very easy. I was so happy to finish this cake. I love the way it looks, but I don't think it's one I would do again. My husband and I really prefer chocolate desserts so it just wasn't our kind of thing.