Cranberry Orange Charlotte Russe

Instructions

1. MAKE CHARLOTTE RUSSE: In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin powder over 3 tsp. warm water and stir. Set aside to bloom gelatin. Whisk egg yolks well in a medium sized bowl. Set aside. Place milk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until steaming but not boiling. Temper egg yolks by whisking ½ of the steamed milk into bowl of whisked egg yolks. Whisk in the rest of the milk. Return mixture to the saucepan and whisk continuously over medium low heat. Add the bloomed gelatin and continue whisking until gelatin has fully dissolved and custard has thickened enough to thickly coat the back of a spoon. Remove custard from heat. Pour custard through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl and set aside on the counter to cool 1 hour and 15 minutes.
2. While custard cools, line two 6-inch removable-bottom cheesecake tins with plastic wrap, allowing edges of wrap to extend over the rims of the tins. Cut the bottom of each lady finger off so that, when standing upright, each lady finger should be just above the top of the tin. Save the ladyfinger bottoms to line the bottom of the tins. Line the inside edges of each cheesecake tin with the trimmed ladyfingers, nestling them sugar-side-out, side by side and straight up so that the cut edges stand flush with the bottom of each tin. Fill the bottom of the tins with the reserved ladyfinger bottoms (laid flat), using extra ladyfingers as necessary to fill in.
3. Once custard has cooled, whip 1 cup of heavy whipping cream until medium peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold 1/3 of the cooled custard into the whipped cream. Repeat, gently folding the rest of the custard into the cream. Divide mixture between the two lady-finger-lined, 6-inch cheesecake tins. (You should have about ½ inch of ladyfingers still exposed above the mixture.) Refrigerate. IMPORTANT: You will add the partially set cranberry gelee to the top of the charlottes after they have set for 3 hours.
4. MAKE CRANBERRY GELEE: Bloom gelatin powder by stirring with 3 tsp warm water in a small bowl. Set aside. Combine 2 cups of fresh cranberries with 1 ½ cups water in a saucepan over medium high heat. Heat to boiling. Cover, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 10 minutes until berries have popped, and mixture is soft. Pour berry mixture through a fine mesh stainer, capturing the juice a bowl. Do not press on the berries—that will “muddy” the clarity of the juice. Reserve the berries. Place the strained juice back in the saucepan. Add lemon juice and ½ cup sugar. Stir over medium high heat until sugar has dissolved (3 minutes.) Add bloomed gelatin and continue stirring until gelatin has fully dissolved (5 minutes.) Remove from heat, pour into a glass bowl and cool on counter for 20 minutes. Strain fresh orange juice through a fine mesh strainer twice. Stir strained orange juice into cranberry juice mixture. Leave cranberry orange mixture in a bowl on the counter until charlotte russe has been refrigerated for two hours. At this point, refrigerate bowl of gelee for 45 minutes until thickened and slightly wobbly, but not fully set. Pour a small amount of thickened gelee over the tops of the two charlotte russes and smooth to fill the tops of the cakes. (Save the remaining gelee to make cranberry relish.) Return charlottes to refrigerator for another two hours until gelee is fully set, or, refrigerate overnight.
5. GARNISH AND SERVE: Grip the plastic wrap extending over the edges of the cheesecake tins to lift charlotte russes from tins. Discard plastic and carefully place charlotte russes on serving platter. Wrap a ribbon around each charlotte russe. Decorate tops with thin slices of orange, sprigs of rosemary and a few tiny raw cranberries. Slice and serve cold.
6. MAKE BONUS CRANBERRY RELISH: Place the reserved cooked cranberries you used to make the cranberry juice in a small pan. Add 1/2 cup water and 1/3 cup sugar and stir over medium heat for 3 minutes. In a bowl, stir mixture with leftover cranberry gelee. Refrigerate until set.