Pear charlotte

SERVES 8

PREPARATION TIME 45 minutes (+ cooling and overnight chilling)

COOKING TIME 10 minutes

250 g (9 oz/about 25) savoiardi biscuits (lady fingers)

Dark chocolate sauce, to serve

FILLING

160 ml (5¼ fl oz/²/₃ cup) milk

½ vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped

3 egg yolks

55 g (2 oz/¼ cup) caster (superfine) sugar

3 teaspoons powdered gelatine

2 ripe pears (500 g/1 lb 2 oz), peeled, cored and diced

250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) thickened (whipping) cream, whipped

BRANDY SYRUP

110 g (3¾ oz/²/₃ cup) caster (superfine) sugar

60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) brandy

1 To make the brandy syrup, put the sugar and 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) water in a small saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool, then stir in the brandy.

2 To make the filling, put the milk and vanilla seeds in a small saucepan over high heat and bring almost to the boil. Use an electric mixer with a whisk attachment to whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl for about 3 minutes or until pale and tripled in volume (a thick ribbon will almost form when the beaters are lifted). Whisk in the milk mixture until combined, then pour into a medium saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon (do not boil or the custard will curdle).

3 Meanwhile, sprinkle the gelatine over 2 tablespoons of hot water in a small bowl and stir until the gelatine dissolves. Stir the gelatine mixture into the custard. Stir in a third of the pears and blend until smooth using a stick blender. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until cool (don’t leave the mixture for too long or it will set). Use a large metal spoon or spatula to fold one-third of the pear custard into the whipped cream. Fold in the remaining pear custard until smooth and just combined.

4 To assemble, lightly grease a 2 litre (70 fl oz/8 cup) charlotte mould. Working with one biscuit at a time, dip in the brandy syrup and place around the side of the mould (sugar-side out) (pic 1). Line the base with soaked biscuits, cutting them to fit snugly. Spoon one-third of the pear mixture into the mould and smooth the surface. Add one-third of the remaining diced pears, making sure they are evenly distributed (pic 2). Repeat with the remaining pear mixture and diced pears in 2 batches. Dip the remaining biscuits in the syrup and press lightly into the pear mixture to cover the filling (pic 3). Refrigerate, covered, overnight until set.

5 Turn the charlotte out onto a cake stand or serving plate. Serve in wedges, accompanied by the chocolate sauce.

TIP Pears that are ripe and full of flavour will give the best result. To avoid the pears discolouring, wait until you are ready to use them before peeling and dicing. You could add lemon juice but it will affect the taste.