Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: A few minutes
Cooling time: 3 hours

 Depending on your preference, you can use the mirabelles either:
- fresh, just halved and pitted
- as a cooked fruit compote, blended into the mixture

Set aside a few sautéed mirabelles to to decorate the top of the charlotte. 

1.  Soften the gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water.
2. Heat the milk in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean and infuse the two halves in the milk.
3. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale and light. Gradually whisk in the hot milk, then transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly.
4. When the mixture has thickened enough to coat a wooden spoon, remove the vanilla bean and take the pan off the heat. Add the drained squeezed gelatin sheets and stir to dissolve them in the hot mixture.
5. Whip the cream. When the milk-egg mixture has cooled (but is still liquid), fold in the whipped cream and mirabelles, either raw or in compote, depending on your preference..

Assembly

1. Dip each of the ladyfingers briefly in a light sugar syrup (equal parts sugar and water), and arrange them around the inside of the charlotte mold. Pour in the mirabelle mixture.
2. Cover with more ladyfingers - these will form the base once the charlotte is inverted and turned out.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before turning out.