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Igloo Charlotte Cake

My daughter wanted for Christmas an Igloo Cake and I wanted a Charlotte cake, so it was a challenge for me to find the best way to cover it. I couldn’t use the fondant so I chose white chocolate instead, to make the cake look like an igloo. Charlotte cake is a kind of mousse cake, in which we use a Bavarian Cream lightened with lots of whipped cream and often enriched with chopped fruits (fresh, candied or stewed).

Ingredients Igloo Charlotte cake

(10-12 servings)

►For the cake

• 3 layers of italian sponge cake
• 4 egg yolks
• 150 g granulated sugar
• 200 ml whole milk
• 300 ml whipping cream
• 20 g powdered gelatin (plus 50 ml cold water for dissolving)
• 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of fresh orange zest
• 1 tablespoon of candied orange
• 100 ml compote syrup

►For decorating

• 100 g whipped sweetened cream for frosting
• 200 g white chocolate
• 50-100 g coconut flakes
• fondant figurines

Directions Igloo Charlotte Cake

Prepare a hemisphere pan of 20 cm in diameter and line it with plastic wrap, big enough to hang over the edges. Press the plastic down into the bowl. Take one layer of sponge cake and place it on the bottom of the pan. Press it carefully to stick to the wall. Take the second layer of sponge cake and cut circles to cover completely the inner side of the pan, just like in the image below.

Dissolve gelatin in 50 ml water and let stand for about 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix egg yolks, granulated sugar and milk in a heatproof pan and bring them to a boil, while stirring continuously (you should use a non-stick pot and stir constantly with a whisk, because this composition will thicken slightly and will tend to stick and get smoked).

Melt the hydrated gelatin by microwaving it for 3-4 seconds and mix it with the egg mixture. Add orange zest and candied orange, homogenize and let cool.

Igloo Charlotte Cake

Whip the cream with powdered sugar. When the egg mixture reaches the room temperature, mix it with the whipped cream. Fill the hemisphere pan with this composition, pressing gently to fill all the space, and level it with an icing spatula or a knife. Cover with the third layer of sponge cake and spoon over half of the syrup. Place the cake into the refrigerator for several hours.

When the cake is set, released it from the pan and place it onto a plate (a turntable cake stand would be very useful). Spoon the rest of the syrup all over the sponge coat of the cake. Using a small offset spatula, crumb coat the cake with whipped cream frosting and put it into the fridge.

To make the chocolate panels, cover the table with a parchment sheet. Temperate the white chocolate and spread it evenly over the sheet using a palette knife. Let stand until the chocolate thickens and cut out rectangles using a ruler and a cutter.

Stick the chocolate „bricks” onto the cake and work in horizontal layers, starting from down towards the top, until the entire cake is covered. Sprinkle coconut flakes on top of the cake.

The fondant penguins were made by my eldest daughter who is an art student ❤