The Charlotte

In 1886, a produce purveyor named Auguste Fauchon opened a food shop on the Place de la Madeleine, in Paris. A little more than a century later, the venerable house of Fauchon came to New York City; its pastry chef, Florian Bellanger, created this wedding cake, the charlotte, with featherlight ladyfingers that surround a filling of raspberry mousse, raspberries, and fraises des bois, or wild strawberries, on soft almond biscuits. More berries and a drizzle of raspberry preserve crown the tiers. Like all the best French pastries, the charlotte is at once light and rich.