Sadly I'm too late to link this up to
#GBBOBloggers2015 for desserts week (*sob* bank holiday threw me off,) but I'm rather proud of it, so here it is.
It turns out that a fan oven is rather helfpul in making meringues, as they otherwise don't dry properly and have a tan on top and bottom, as I discovered in my non-fan oven.
However, swiss meringue piping can hide a multitude of errors, which is good.
I made a half size version, as that is otherwise an awfully large quantity of meringues and cream. Even with the reduced quantity there were leftovers despite 6 adults having good sized slices!
Recipe
From BBC Food
Ingredients (for half)
For the French meringue shell
4 large free-range egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
235g caster sugar
For the fondant violets
10g dusky lavender ready-to-roll icing
10g deep purple ready-to-roll icing
5g/¼oz yellow ready-to-roll icing
For the Swiss meringue decoration
2 large free-range egg whites
125g caster sugar
For the filling
300ml double cream
25g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp orange blossom water
200g strawberries, roughly chopped
100g/7oz raspberries
Preparation method
1. Line 3 large baking trays with baking parchment. Draw 2 x 14cm circles on 2 of the trays and
1 x 14cm circle on 1 of the trays. (You should end up with 5 x 14cm circles). Preheat the oven
to 120C/100C Fan/Gas ½.
2. For the meringue shell, tip the egg whites and cream of tartar into a large spotlessly clean bowl and
whisk with an electric mixer on high speed until the whites form stiff peaks. Add the caster sugar, a
tablespoon at a time, whisking continuously to make a thick, glossy meringue.
3. Spoon two-thirds of the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm/?in plain nozzle. Pipe a thick
ring inside one of the circles on the baking tray and continue spiraling until the entire circle is filled
Repeat with a second circle. These create the base and the top of the meringue cake.
4.Repeat the process with the 3 remaining circles, except don't fill in the circles, so that you have
three hoops of meringue - these create the sides of the meringue shell. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from
the oven and leave to cool.
5. Meanwhile, make the fondant violets. For each fondant violet, roll 2 little pieces of dusky lavender
fondant and 3 small pieces of deep purple lavender into small balls (about the size of an orange pip).
Dust 2 pieces of greaseproof paper with icing sugar and place the balls of fondant between the sheets of
greaseproof and flatten each ball out with your fingers, to a thin circle, approximately 1cm/½in in
diameter - these form the petals. Roll a tiny piece of yellow fondant into 3 tiny balls, to form the
stamens.
6. Using a small paintbrush and a tiny amount of water, stick the petals and stamens together to form a
violet, with the 2 dusky lavender petals at the top, 2 dark purple petals below them and the remaining
dark purple petal on the bottom, in the middle. Press the yellow stamens into the centre. Repeat to make
7 violets. Leave to dry on greaseproof paper for at least 1 hour.
7. When the meringues are dry, gently slide 1 of the cooked, filled meringues onto a 30cm/12in heatproof
(to 120C) serving plate. Spoon the remaining meringue into the piping bag and pipe 8 blobs of meringue,
evenly spaced around the edge of the circle. Place 1 of the meringue hoops on top and press down very
gently to stick the hoop to the base.
8. Repeat the process with the remaining 2 hoops of meringue. Roughly pipe the remaining one-third of
meringue around the sides to disguise the hoops. Using a spatula smooth out the meringue so that the
sides are smooth and straight and look like a cake. Bake on the serving plate for 45 minutes. Remove
from the oven and leave to cool.
9. For the Swiss meringue decoration, set a large mixing bowl over a pan of gently simmering water.
Tip the egg whites and sugar into the bowl and whisk until the sugar is dissolved and the meringue
reaches 70C on a sugar thermometer.
10. Remove from the heat and continue whisking until cool and stiff. Spoon the meringue into a piping bag
fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe a pretty border around the base, the middle and the top edge of the
meringue shell. Pipe a border around the outside edge and the middle of the filled meringue circle that
will become the lid. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
11. For the filling, whip the cream and icing sugar together in a bowl until soft peaks form when the
whisk is removed from the bowl. Whisk in the orange blossom water and gently fold in the strawberries
and raspberries. Spoon into the cooled meringue cake shell. Top with the meringue lid.
12. To decorate, use tiny blobs of meringue to stick 6 violets around the middle piped border on the
sides of the cake,and 1 violet in the centre of the top of the cake. Serve immediately.
I'm entering this in #CookBlogShare hosted by
Kirsty from Hijacked by Twins
