"Oh, it's more than a trifle, Clancy. It's a charlotte ."

Have you ever heard someone from France say "charlotte"?  The emphasis is on the "lotte" with lots of round vowels... it is actually a lovely name.  Have you ever heard someone from France say "mirror", spelled miroir in French?  It is... lots of vowels rolling around in the mouth with a few r's to make it interesting.  Hmm... I am supposed to be talking about food aren't I?
Tuesday we made the classic dessert, the char-LOTTE with raspberry.  We used a "fruit punch" (raspberry puree with corn syrup, lemon juice and sugar) to soak the biscuit cuillere (lady finger dough.)  The mousse was raspberry and included an Italian meringue and whipped cream. Once the mousse chilled and set inside the lady finger form, we covered the top with the mirror or "miroir"  :-]  (like the fruit punch with gelatin).  It was lovely.  Creating a charlotte is quite a production, and there are many steps.  This recipe, along with the fruit tart will be the practical piece for our final in a few weeks.  My family is going to be sick of charlottes...  maybe I can share the wealth.  Is there anyone is southern California who will eat dessert? 
We made chocolate filigrees to garnish our charlotte,  tirimisu, and creme brulee.  I accidentally took Jack's filigrees from the frig and used them.  Well, gosh, they looked just like mine... only a little better.  I kept saying to myself, "Wow, these look really good and uniform.  Did I do these?"  Okay, it was probably some awful subconscious pest which blinded my judgment when I took the lacy, chocolate beauties from the refrigerator.  My dear classmate was a good sport about it, but I may never live it down. 
I must admit to never having made creme brulee... I know, I know, how can someone who claims to love dessert, and claims to love to produce them,  has never made the most loved and favored creme brulee?  I am intimidated by the torch.  I admit it.  I did not show my fear in class (I hope) instead I took that flame thrower in hand and torched my creme brulee like a pro... well, almost a pro. 
How do you feel about flan?  I LOVE flan... oooh, the texture is silky and the caramel is a wonderful, dare I say, slightly bitter compliment to that smooth masterpiece.  We haven't eaten ours yet.  It is waiting patiently (in our Tuesday/Thursday class refrigerator) to be plated in some magical way on Thursday.  I need to work on plating... I need to work on everything.  :-]