French Recipe: Strawberry, Rum, Almond and Cream Trifle
A charlotte is traditionally fruit sautéed in butter which is then placed in a mold lined with bread. In our day, the bread is usually ladyfingers, but I’ve used financier, a dense almond flour cake made with beurre noisette, giving it a distinctive flavor.
Insteading of sautéing the strawberries, I’ve marinated them in rum and used the marinade to “wet” the cake, similar to the way the British make trifle.
600 g strawberries
2 T. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 T. rum
3/4 c. water
4 financier cakes, individual size (or other type of soft, but dense, almond cakes)
200 g thick cream
1/2 vanilla bean
2 T. brown sugar
4 parfait dishes
- Top strawberries and cut in half. Place in mixing bowl.
- Mix in 2 T. brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Add rum and water. Mix gently.
- Leave for 30 minutes, mixing gently from time to time. A natural sauce should form. If it doesn’t, add a little more water and rum.
- Meanwhile, mix cream with vanilla from vanilla bean and brown sugar.
- Break up 1/3 of each financier into each parfait cup. Spoon in 1/9th of strawberries into each cup, pouring some juice onto the cake to moisten it.
- Cover with 1/9 of cream.
- Add two more layers of financier, strawberries and cream, in the same proportions, ending with cream.
- Decorate top with bits of strawberry, mint, or dark chocolate.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.
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