Charlotte is a sweet dessert with baked apples, which many have loved since childhood. She is considered quite a simple dish - even a hostess with not very rich culinary experience can cook it. But still, no knowledge about charlotte should be available to the novice chef. For example, it is important to know at what temperature to bake a charlotte and for how long.
Charlotte temperature and baking time
Baking charlottes in the oven is a classic way of making this pie. In the oven, this dessert is best baked and browned. You can bake a delicious charlotte in both gas and electric ovens.
Charlotte in the gas oven
Apple pie in a gas oven is recommended to bake at this temperature: 180-200 degrees. On average, a charlotte in a gas oven is baked for 30-40 minutes. If your oven is equipped with a convection function, be sure to use it. Thanks to convection warm air circulates throughout the oven, which helps evenly bake the dish. In addition, due to this, it is possible to bake on two trays at once. Pie in this mode should be prepared at a temperature of 165 degrees.
Charlotte in an electric oven
In an electric oven, cooks bake charlotte at a temperature of 170 degrees for about 45 minutes. It is advisable to put the baking dish on the middle level of the electric oven and turn on the heating on both sides so that the dessert will bake perfectly.
General recommendations
Despite the differences in electric and gas ovens, there are general recommendations for baking, including charlottes.
- The oven must be heated before baking for at least 15-20 minutes. If it is not heated enough, it will affect the baking quality.
- To avoid drying out and burning baking, put a container with water in the oven.
- The top and bottom of the apple pie will be baked better if placed in the oven in such a way that there is plenty of free space around it. Due to this, hot air will circulate better.
- Temperature variations can adversely affect baking, so you don’t need to open the oven too often. In the first 15 minutes of baking, it is not recommended to open the oven at all.
Tips for baking delicious charlotte
- For the preparation of charlottes, it is best to use sour apples. An Antonovka is great for this dessert. If there are no apples, you can use dried fruits, rhubarb, pears, oranges, currants and other berries as a filling for the cake. Please note that if you use juicy apples or berries, the dough may be too thin. In this case, add a little more flour and a little baking powder to it.
- Charlotte has a different airy texture, so you need to pay special attention to the process of beating eggs. It is most correct to beat the yolks and whites separately, and then put it all together. Note that the squirrels must first lie in the fridge for about 10 minutes, as they are better mixed in a cool form. For charlotte squirrels need to beat up to stable peaks.
- To give charlotte an extra taste, you can add vanilla sugar or lemon zest to it. Also apple pie perfectly complement such spices as ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. Adding spices to the cake, do not overdo it.
- The shape in which the apple pie will be baked should be oiled and dusted with semolina. This procedure makes it easier to remove baked goods from the pan after cooking.
- Pour the apples in the dough, do not rush to send the charlotte in the oven. Let it stand for a bit so that the dough fills all the voids. So the cake will turn out with a crispy crust.
- You can check the readiness of the charlotte with a toothpick. Pierce her cake. If there are no traces of raw dough on the toothpick, the cake is baked. But do not rush it immediately to get out of the oven. First, you need to hold the dessert for some time in the oven off.
