One of the best ways to store berries is to freeze them, allowing you to save the maximum amount of vitamins contained in them. However, in the winter, it turns out that not all housewives know how to find a use for such blanks, unless they cook compotes and jellies. In its pure form, thawed berries are not particularly desirable, since they lose their shape and become less sweet. Such fruits can be used for baking. Delicious and juicy is obtained charlotte with frozen berries. But in order for such a pie to be beautiful and appetizing, it is necessary to know a few subtleties.
Cooking Features
The process of making charlottes with frozen berries is somewhat different from the technology of making this type of cakes with fresh berries and fruits. Knowing these subtleties, even an inexperienced cook will be able to bake a delicious charlotte stuffed with frozen berries.
- Frozen berries are not necessary to defrost before cooking charlottes. If you mix them with dough before they have time to melt, they will be evenly distributed in the finished cake and it will look appetizing. In this case, it is important to act quickly and preheat the oven in advance so that the berries do not thaw out ahead of time.
- If the berries had thawed, they can also be used for charlottes, it is enough to drain the released juice.
- So that the berries do not soak the dough while baking the cake, they are first rolled in flour or starch.
- The traditional charlotte is made from biscuit dough. Its composition is simple: sugar, eggs, flour. To obtain a delicious dough from this small set of ingredients, which will rise during baking, becoming tender and airy, you need to know the features of technology. First, beat the eggs with sugar until the mass increases in volume by 1, 5-2 times. Then be sure to sift the flour and, adding it to the egg mass in portions, with a spatula interfere with the dough. The finished dough on the consistency should resemble a thick sour cream, do not contain flour lumps.
- To make the cake rise better, baking powder or vinegar-quenched soda is often added to the dough. The inclusion of dairy products in the dough allows you to make a pie that is more delicate in texture than a traditional one. Sometimes butter is put into the dough, which makes the cake more crumbly.
- The mold must be oiled before placing the dough into it. Often it is additionally sprinkled with flour or breadcrumbs. All this is done to make it easier to get ready-made cake from the container. If you use a detachable or silicone form, you will have fewer problems with extracting charlotte from it.
- Charlotte can be baked not only in the oven, but also in the slow cooker. To do this, use the program "Baking". The preparation time of the cake in the slow cooker depends on the size of the confection and the power of the unit. It usually takes 50-60 minutes. Remove the cake from the multicooker, turning it on the basket for cooking steamed dishes. Serve the charlotte, made in a multicooker, upside down. This is due to the fact that only the lower part of baking is browned when cooking in this appliance, the upper part remains pale and little appetizing.
Charlotte can be served warm or cold. There are several options for decorating such a cake. One of them is to smear the surface of the cake with honey and spread fresh or canned berries on top. The second option is to sprinkle icing sugar over the cake. Some pour chocolate glaze on the charlotte or decorate with pieces of hard chocolate.
The classic recipe of charlotte with frozen berries
Composition:
- frozen berries (forest or garden, assorted) - 0, 2 kg;
- wheat flour - 160 g;
- sugar - 0, 2 kg;
- chicken egg - 4 pcs .;
- vegetable oil - 20 ml;
- starch - 30 g.
Preparation Method:
- Turn on the oven, so that by the time the cake is ready, she can warm up to 180-200 degrees.
- In the bowl, break the eggs, add sugar to them. Beat with a mixer until the egg mass turns white and increases in volume.
- Sift flour. Put it in small pieces to the egg mass and stir until smooth, until almost all the flour is over. Leave only 1-2 teaspoons of flour to sprinkle on the form.
- Lubricate the form with vegetable oil, sprinkle with flour, pour half of the dough into it.
- Frozen berry platter, without defrosting, pour in a bowl, sprinkle with starch, mix.
- Put the berries on the dough, trying to distribute them over its surface evenly.
- Fill the berries with the remaining dough.
- Immediately put the dough into the oven. Bake a charlotte for 30-40 minutes. Readiness with a wooden toothpick. If after diving into the dough, it remains dry, baking is ready.
It remains to remove the charlotte from the mold, let it cool on a wire rack, put it on a dish and serve it to the table. For beauty, you can sprinkle icing sugar over the cake. It will be distributed evenly, if you sprinkle baked goods you will be through a sieve. The use of special stencils will create beautiful patterns on the surface of the charlotte, thanks to which it will become even more appetizing.
Unusual charlotte of frozen berries (with meringue)
Composition:
- sugar - 150 g;
- icing sugar - 50 g;
- flour - 130 g;
- starch - 30 g;
- chicken egg - 5 pcs .;
- frozen black currants or other berries - 0, 3 kg;
- butter and breadcrumbs - to cover the mold.
Preparation Method:
- Divide the eggs into whites and yolks.
- Combine yolks with sugar and whisk.
- Separately whisk the whites. Beat them up until steady peaks appear. This will not be possible if fat, water or fragments of egg yolk fall into the protein mass.
- Add sifted flour to the yolk mass, mix thoroughly to prevent lumps.
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
- Mix half of the whipped proteins into the dough. Stir them with a spatula, making movements from the bottom up and at the same time from the edges to the center.
- Lubricate the form with oil, sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
- Put the dough in the form.
- Pour frozen berries into a bowl, mix them with starch, put them on the dough.
- Return to chipping the proteins, now pouring icing sugar on them to a spoon.
- Cover the berries with a protein mass.
- Put the mold in the oven. Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes.
Charlotte prepared according to this recipe is served cold. It does not need any decoration.
Charlotte on kefir with frozen cherries in a slow cooker
Composition:
- wheat flour - 0, 25 kg;
- sugar - 150 g;
- chicken egg - 2 pcs .;
- salt - a pinch;
- soda - 5 g;
- kefir - 0, 2 l;
- melted creamy margarine - 80 ml;
- frozen cherries (pitted) - 150-200 g.
Preparation Method:
- Remove the cherry from the freezer in advance so that it has time to thaw.
- Break eggs into a bowl, add sugar to them. Beat with a whisk or mixer until a fluffy foam is formed.
- Pour kefir, beat egg mass with it.
- Melt the margarine, pour in the liquid mixture. If instead of margarine you decide to use butter, it will be even better. Cast a little melted fat to lubricate the bowl of the multicooker.
- Pour margarine to kefir-egg mass, whisk.
- Soda quench with vinegar, add to other ingredients, mix.
- Sift flour, combine with a liquid base, mix with a spatula. The dough can be stirred and a mixer, but only when using special nozzles for making dough.
- Smear a bowl of multicooker with margarine, pour about half of the dough into it.
- With the cherries drain the juice, put the berries on the dough.
- Fill the cherries with the remaining dough.
- Turn on the multicooker by using the Baking program. Set the timer to 40-60 minutes, depending on the power of your unit.
- After completing the instrument, wait 10-15 minutes.
- Flip the pie over the wire rack for steaming. Leave on it until the final cooling.
Charlotte with cherries is especially tasty when combined with chocolate. You can decorate the cake with its pieces. If you cover the chocolate glaze with charlotte, you will not regret this either.
Charlotte with apples and frozen berries
Composition:
- chicken egg - 4 pcs .;
- sugar - 180 g;
- wheat flour - 0, 2 kg;
- starch - 50 g;
- frozen berries - 0, 2 kg;
- peeled and sliced apple - 0, 2 kg;
- butter or vegetable oil for lubricating the form - 20 ml;
- breadcrumbs - as required.
Preparation Method:
- Combine eggs with sugar, whisk well with a whisk or a mixer.
- Enter the sifted flour and stir the dough until smooth.
- Peel apples, remove cores. Pulp cut into cubes about 1 cm in size.
- Berries, without defrosting, put in a clean bowl, add starch to them, mix.
- Put the slices of apples and berries in the dough. Stir it, trying to distribute the fruit with the berries in it evenly.
- Put the dough in a greased and sprinkled with breadcrumbs.
- Place the form in the oven preheated to 180 degrees. Bake “until dry toothpick”. While baking the cake, try not to open the oven, otherwise it will not be lush.
Charlotte in this recipe can be prepared not only with frozen, but also with fresh berries.
Charlotte with frozen berries is as tasty as a pie with fresh fruit filling. The technology of its preparation has a certain specificity, but is not complex. You can cook dessert in the oven and the slow cooker.
