Charlotte Fraise

Happy Feast day of St. Joseph

In honor of this occasion, I splurged and bought this pastry I'd dreamed about trying ever since it appeared in a conversation, allegedly taken from the Cordon Bleu, in my Advanced French book (does anyone else get excited about visiting places they read about in text books? Or am I just that big a nerd?)

The Charlotte.

I really wish I'd thought of taking a picture before I dove in. It's probably one of the most beautiful desserts I've ever eaten (look at the design on the side!)

The counterpart of the American strawberry shortcake (both the desert and the cartoon character), the Charlotte Fraise consists of a sort of thin sponge cake shell filled with a sort of strawberry mousse and topped with strawberry jam and, in this case, two halves of a thin white/milk chocolate wafer, perched like a pair of leaves on a choice piece of fruit.

I guess it's a French thing. Nothing is complete without a bit of chocolate.

There are times I really, really love this country.