Julia Child's Charlotte Malakoff Aux Fraises

From Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The unmolded Charlotte will look much prettier if the ladyfingers are trimmed into wedge shapes and placed in the bottom of the mold like the spokes of a wheel, fitted closely together and with a circle cut out to fill the center hole. The almond creme will fill any small gaps. Whipped cream rosettes piped on top and along the base, a few berries and mint or lemon leaves and voila! An impressive, Julia-worthy creation. Bon appetit!

• Ready In: 6 hrs 45 mins
• Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• 1  quart fresh strawberries
• 1⁄3 cup  orange liqueur
• 2⁄3 cup water
• 24  single ladyfingers
• 1⁄2 lb  softened unsalted butter
• 1  cup sugar
• 1⁄2 cup  orange liqueur
• 1⁄4 teaspoon  almond extract
• 1 1⁄3 cups  pulverized  almonds
• 2  cups  chilled  whipping cream

Directions

1. Hull the strawberries. Wash them quickly if necessary, and set on a cake rack to drain thoroughly.
2. Line the bottom of a 2-quart cylindrical mode with a round of unbuttered waxed paper.
3. Pour orange liqueur and water into a soup plate. Dip in the ladyfingers, one by one, and drain on rack. Line sides of mold with ladyfingers. Reserve the remaining dipped ladyfingers.
4. Cream butter and sugar together for 3 to 4 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Beat in orange liqueur and almond extract. Continue beating for several minutes until sugar is completely dissolved. Beat in the almonds.
5. Whip the cream until the beater, drawn across the top of the cream, leaves light traces. Fold the cream into the almond and butter mixture.
6. Turn a third of the almond cream into the lined mold. Arrange over it a layer of strawberries, heads down. Cover them with a layer of ladyfingers. Repeat with another layer of almond cream, strawberries, and ladyfingers. Fill the mold with the rest of the almond cream and a layer of ladyfingers if there are any left. Trim off ladyfingers around edge of mold, and press the trimmed off bits into the top of the cream. Cover mold with a round of buttered waxed paper , set a saucer over the paper, and place a 1 lb. weight on it. (I used cans of beans.) Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight. The butter must be chilled firm, so the dessert will not collapse when unmolded.
7. When ready to serve, remove the waxed paper. Run a knife around the inside of the mold, and reverse dessert on a chilled serving platter. Peel waxed paper from top, and refrigerate dessert until serving time. Decorate with strawberries an accompany with whipped cream or strawberry sauce.