Lilikoi (Passion Fruit) Charlotte

My friend from college just came to visit me recently and we did a drive around the island. On our way home from the very yummy Giovanni's shrimp truck, we stopped by the cutest fruit stand. The lady there is so nice, and she had so many different exotic fruits. I bought some lilikois (passion fruit), some guavas, and this unusual fruit that she described as a creamy apple.

I can't for the life of me remember what she called this "apple", but it was delicious. I would not call it an apple, because it does not resemble an apple at all. It has a semi hard skin, that's about 1/4 inch thick and it's green. On the inside, there are these soft white wedges with black seeds. It is very creamy and has a very mild sweet flavor. It kinda reminds me of a mangosteen. Any idea what I'm talking about? I will have to hunt down this fruit again and take a picture.

Anyway...because of these lilikois that I have, I decided to make a lilikoi charlotte for my friend's husband's birthday. I have never attempted to make a charlotte (also known as charlotte russe) before and did quite a bit of research before proceeding. Before I started baking, I thought charlotte russe is the name of the clothing store...heehee. What I found out is, charlotte russe is a dessert that is lined with ladyfingers on the outside and a bavarian cream on the inside.

My take on the charlotte is not a bavarian cream, but a lilikoi mousse. I didn't get to taste the cake as a whole, as it was a gift. But I did try the components and I was happy with the results. I found the recipe for the ladyfingers at Bonbini. I love how she made her ladyfingers slanted, I thought it was so pretty, so I borrowed the idea! Here are the recipes.

Lilikoi (Passion fruit) Charlotte
adapted from Bonbini
makes one 7" cake
total time: 2 1/2 hours

for the ladyfingers:
4 yolks
1 1/2 oz. sugar
4 egg whites
2 1/4 oz. sugar
3 oz. cake flour, sifted
powdered sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Whip the egg yolks and 1 1/2 oz of the sugar until it is thick and pale yellow. Set aside.

3. Whip the egg whites and 2 1/4 oz of the sugar until stiff peaks form.

4. Fold 1/4 of egg whites into the egg yolk mixture to lighten the batter. Then fold in the rest of the egg whites in two increments.

5. Sift in the flour and fold until just combined.

6. Fill the batter into the pastry bag with # 4 plain tip, pipe approximately 24 three inch long ladyfingers. Also pipe a spiral into a circle that's approximately 6 1/2 inches in diameter, this will be used to line the bottom of the cake.

7. Lightly dust them with powdered sugar bake for 8-10 minutes. You can tell that they're finished when they're golden in color. Also if you press lightly on the ladyfingers, they should spring back instead of leaving an indentation.

For the lilikoi mousse, refer to this recipe.

Assembly:
1. Line a 7" springform pan with parchment paper.

2. Take out enough ladyfingers to fit your pan (I used about 15 ladyfingers for a 7" pan). Trim the bottom edges of the lady fingers for a smooth edge. Line the edges of the pan with the ladyfingers. Place the spiral cake on the bottom of the pan.

3. Fill the cake with lilikoi mousse and decorate as you please.