Apple charlotte with blackberry sauce

Diana Henry
·3-min read
Apple charlotte with blackberry sauce
The thickness of the bread is key here – if you have a pre-sliced loaf you can flatten it with a rolling pin to the right thickness - Haarala Hamilton & Valerie Berry

What can go wrong here is the bread. If it’s sliced too thick the whole thing is heavy. If you’ve bought a pre-sliced loaf, you can use a rolling pin to flatten the slices to the right thickness.

You might think this is small for 4 but you don’t need lots of it. It’s also easier to make a small one; large ones can easily collapse. You don’t have to make the sauce but it looks gorgeous.

Requires cooling time 

Overview

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

1 hr 5 mins

Serves

3

Ingredients

  • 350g Bramley apples

  • 350g eating apples

  • 130g butter, plus extra for greasing

  • 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar

  • finely grated zest of ½ lemon

  • 9-10 slices of white bread, about ½cm thick, crusts removed

  • fresh blackberries, to serve

  • thick double cream or ice cream, to serve

For the sauce

  • 300g frozen blackberries

  • good squeeze of lemon juice

  • 100g caster sugar, or more to taste

Method

Step 1

Peel and core 350g Bramley apples and 350g eating apples then cut them into thin slices. Put them into a saucepan with 2 tbsp water, 30g of the butter, 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar and the finely grated zest of ½ lemon.

Step 2

Cook over a low heat, pressing the apples from time to time as they cook to crush them. You need to end up with a thick, pulpy purée (if it’s too wet it will be a disaster). Leave to cool completely.

Step 3

For the sauce, put 300g frozen blackberries, a good squeeze of lemon juice and 100g caster sugar into a saucepan with 100ml water. Bring to a simmer and cook until the berries have broken up and the liquid is syrupy, about 3-4 minutes.

Step 4

Pour into a sieve set over a large bowl. Press the pulp so that you get everything through. Taste to see whether you need a little more sugar or lemon juice.

Step 5

Heat the oven to 190C/180C fan/gas mark 5.

Step 6

Melt the remaining 100g of butter, then leave to one side.

Step 7

Grease a small pudding basin – 10cm across and 15cm deep – then cut 9-10 white bread slices (crusts removed) into broad fingers, plus a round piece for the base.

Step 8

Dip the pieces in the melted butter as you line the basin, with pieces slightly overlapping. There must not be any gaps. Spoon in the apple purée. Use more pieces of bread to cover the filling. Press the mixture down a little with a plate.

Step 9

Bake for 20 minutes, with an ovenproof plate on top, then remove it and turn the heat down to 170C/160C fan/gas mark 3½.

Step 10

Cook for another 30 minutes. You want the top to be golden brown. Leave to cool for 15 minutes then turn the pudding out.

Step 11

Serve with the blackberry sauce, fresh blackberries and ice cream or thick double cream.

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