Think of the classic charlotte, which dates back to the 1700s, as the forerunner of icebox cakes. Traditionally the molded dessert was made of jelly roll slices and filled with Bavarian cream.Here, we’ve updated itusing a delicate chocolate
sponge cake rolled up with a rich, creamy chocolate ganache and filled with a luscious white chocolate-raspberry cream.

It may look complicated to make, but the cake relies on time and simple techniques to reveal a stunning finale to your meal. The preparation can easily be broken into manageable steps, so you can have it fully assembled and ready to go several days in advance—a real bonus during the holidays.

If you’re looking for an impressive and elegant dessert to grace your holiday table that won’t leave you sweating the finish line, charlotte is your cake.

How To Assemble a Charlotte Royal

OR For a Completely Different Look…

Instead of lining your mold with roulade slices, you can use square slices of layered cake and ganache. In addition to the sheet cake, you bake a thin 8-inch round cake the size of your mold. Then, instead of rolling up the sheet cake with the ganache, jelly-roll style, you cut it into 4 rectangles and stack them with layers of ganache in between. Once chilled, you cut the layer cake into squares, and line the mold with the squares. The mold is filled as in the master recipe, then topped off with the cake round. See the variation inthe recipefor full instructions on making this style.