Chocolate Rollcake
I have this rollcake recipe for a while now, and I think I have only made it once before, oh, that would have been 4-5 years ago. So I thought of doing it again since I have forgotten how that turned out last time.
After baking it again, I realized the cake strips were too thick, that must have been the case before as well! Oh well since I didn't record it, I have forgotten all about this problem. I should have made the cake strips thinner so the contrast with the icing could be more pronounced! So I am posting it here to remind myself for future reference!
[Ingredients]
Chocolate Sponge Sheet Cake:
4 egg yolks
40g caster sugar (A)
pinch salt
40ml canola or corn oil
60ml hot water
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
70g cake flour
20g cornflour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
4 egg whites
80g caster sugar (B)
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
60g melted butter
Cream Cheese Icing:
300ml thickened (whipping) cream
125g cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons pure icing sugar
For rosette decoration (optional):
whipped cream
pandan and strawberry paste
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
For the Sponge Sheet:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 30cm x 25cm Swiss roll pan and line the bottom with baking paper. Sift together cake flour, cornflour and baking soda, set aside. Dissolve cocoa powder in hot water and set aside.
2. Put egg yolks, caster sugar (A) and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk until creamy. Add oil, dissolved cocoa, vanilla and whisk to combine well.
3. Whisk egg whites and cream of tartar in another mixing bowl until foamy with tiny even small bubbles. Add caster sugar (B) gradually, spoonful by spoonful, whisking until soft peaks formed.
4. Sift the flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture, whisking lightly to combine. Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the egg yolk batter lightly and gently. Repeat twice more with the remaining meringue. Finally fold in melted butter.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spread evenly. Tap the pan lightly on the bench a couple of times to get rid of any large air bubbles in the batter.
6. Bake in preheated oven for about 18-20 minutes (do not overbake or it will tend to crack when rolling up), or until the surface feels dry.
7. Remove from oven and stand 5 minutes. Loosen sides of cake from the pan if necessary. Turn over to release the cake from the pan. Remove the lining paper on the bottom of the cake. Turn the cake, right side up, back into its pan to cool until lukewarm.
For the Cream Cheese Icing:
Whisk the softened cream cheese and icing sugar until combined. Gradually pour in the cream and continue to whisk until thickened to a spreading consistency.
For the Rollcake:
1. Trim off the hard edges from the sheet cake. Mark the short side of the sheet into 4 equal width of about 5cm and cut the cake into 4 strips (this width will become the height of the cake).
Bake a chocolate sponge sheet cake and cut into 5-6cm wide strips.
2. Spread the cream cheese icing onto the strips.
Ice the cake strips with cream cheese icing.
3. Roll up the first iced cake strip like a Swiss roll. Stand the rolled-up strip on the cut side. Take the second iced strip and join one end to the end of the first strip and continue to roll up. Repeat with the remaining two iced strips.
Roll up the iced strips into a round cake.
4. Chill the cake in the refrigerator for 30 minutes if doing this in hot weather to firm up the icing.
5. Frost the remaining icing over the cake to cover. If desired, use whipped cream with added essence paste to decorate the cake.
Decorate as desired.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Cakes and Cupcakes, Coffee Desserts
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Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake
I have not made unbaked cheesecake for a long time. I think the last time would have been 3-4 years ago. With the continuously hot weather the past couple of weeks, it was time for this cold dessert to make a long overdue appearance.
As it happened, I had to make a cream cheese icing for a cake last week, so I had opened a 250g pack of cream cheese and about 200g was left sitting in my refrigerator. I added another packet to get 450g in total to make this cheesecake, still 50g short of a normal recipe which usually used 500g cream cheese. Bravely I soldiered on by increasing the thickened cream slightly by ¼ cup to make up the shortage of the cream cheese. It turned out beautifully so this recipe will serve me well the next time I only have 450g cream cheese to use.
Adapted from the recipe 'Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake' in Family Circle’s mini cookbook series 'Cheesecakes, Pavlovas and Trifles', published by Murdoch Books, 1994 (2001 reprinted edition).
Serves 8-10.
[Ingredients]
Crust:
250g Marie biscuits
100g butter, melted
Filling:
¼ cup hot water
2 x 10g-sachet gelatine powder (about 6½ teaspoons in total)
450g cream cheese
1/3 cup lemon juice
½ cup caster sugar
1½ cups thickened cream, whipped
250g frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons caster sugar, extra
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Line the base of a 22cm round springform cake tin with baking paper. Blend biscuits in a food processor until finely crushed. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add melted butter; mix until combined. Spoon into prepared tin, press firmly into base. Refrigerate 20 minutes, or until firm.
2. To make Filling: Place hot water in a glass measuring jug. Sprinkle gelatine over water, stir until gelatine is dissolved. If there are still lumpy bits, put the glass jug in the microwave and heat for about 30 seconds to completely dissolve the gelatine. Repeat if necessary. Cool slightly.
3. Using electric beater, beat softened cream cheese until creamy, add lemon juice and sugar, beat until smooth. Gently fold in whipped cream.
4. Place blueberries and extra sugar in food processor. Process until smooth. Fold half the gelatine mixture into the cheese mixture. Fold the remaining gelatine into the blueberry mixture.
5. Alternatively spoon both mixtures into prepared tin and swirl with a skewer. Refrigerate 4 hours or until set.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Cheesecakes, Coffee Desserts
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Gâteau Peaches-and-Cream
This cake was created based on the basic idea of
Tiramisù Torte.
As Tiramisù is loaded with coffee and chocolate, I wanted to create something similar but without all the caffeine, something more subtle and lighter using fruit. As it was, I always have tinned peaches in my pantry for snack purposes, and peaches would go very well with mascarpone cheese and cream combination. So this cake was borne! As variations, I would think mango or berries would do very well also as substitution for the peaches in this cake.
Makes one 21cm cake.
[Ingredients]
Sponge Cake:
4 eggs
150g caster sugar
75g plain flour
30g cornflour
20g vanilla custard powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
60g melted butter
40ml hot water
Peach and Mascarpone Cream:
250g mascarpone cheese
300ml thickened (whipping) cream
3 tablespoons icing sugar, or adjust to taste
1 teaspoon rum essence (optional)
2 tablespoons (40ml) peach nectar (from tinned Peach Slices in Natural Juice)
1 tin (825g) Peach Slices in Natural Juice
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Sponge Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 21cm round springform cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Sift plain flour, cornflour, custard powder and baking powder three times, set aside. Mix melted butter and hot water, set aside.
2. Beat eggs for about 1 minute on medium high speed. Start adding sugar gradually as you continue to beat the egg mixture. Beat until the mixture leaves a trail of ribbon when you lift the egg beater, total beating time can be 6 to 10 minutes depending on the power of your beater.
3. Sift the flour mixture in a few batches into the egg mixture and fold in after sifting in each batch. Once all the flour is folded in, pour the melted butter and hot water mixture along the outer edges of the batter and fold in.
4. Pour into prepared tin and give the tin a tap on the bench. Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until cooked. Remove from oven and give the tin another tap on the bench. Let stand for about 5 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack and let cool completely. Split into 3 even layers.
For best result of splitting cake into even layers, use a cake leveller.
Peach and Mascarpone Cream:
1. Remove 8 pieces of the peach slices from the tin, slice each into half lengthwise into thinner pieces for decoration. Strain and remove 250g of the remaining peach slices and cut or chop into small pieces, set aside. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the peach nectar (juice).
2. Whip thickened cream, icing sugar and rum essence until thick. Stir to soften the mascarpone cheese and fold into the whipped cream. Fold in the reserved 2 tablespoons of peach nectar.
To assemble cake:
1. Spread a thin layer of the Mascarpone Cream on the bottom cake layer. Spread half of the chopped peaches on top of the cream.
2. Arrange the second cake layer on top. Repeat with cream and chopped peaches. Lay the third cake layer on top. Frost all over with the Mascarpone Cream. Arrange the peach slices decoratively on top and pipe rosettes with remaining cream.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Cakes and Cupcakes, Coffee Desserts
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Flourless Orange Cake
A cake made without using any wheat flour.
I had not even tasted this before challenged into making it. I was surprised by how moist and soft the cake turned out to be. It is gluten-free if you use gluten-free baking powder to make it. Mind you it takes 2 hours to boil down the oranges before making the cake, so be prepared to spend some times doing that!
[Ingredients]
2 large (approx. 600g in total) oranges
200g caster sugar
6 eggs
225g almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Place oranges in a pot and cover with water. Place a suitable sized plate on top of the oranges to keep them submerge in water. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to simmering and cook for about 2 hours, loosely covered with the lid. Let cool, then cut in half to remove any pips inside. Place the oranges, rind, pith and all, in a food processor and process into a purée.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 22 or 24cm springform tin. Beat eggs until thick, add sugar gradually and continue beating until the mixture leaves a trail of ribbon.
3. Sift almond meal and baking powder. Gradually pour the almond meal mixture into the egg mixture and fold in.
4. Fold in orange purée.
5. Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 50 minutes, or until cooked.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Cakes and Cupcakes, Coffee Desserts
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Tiramisù Torte
A request came through last week for this recipe which I made as a trial last year just before Christmas.
It was very yummy, and quite boozy, just wonderful for the festive season. However, if you don’t like it to be too alcoholic tasting, feel free to reduce the amount of coffee liqueur, or I think you may even be able to get away with substituting the liqueur with 1 teaspoon of brandy essence if you are serving it to children.
The other thing was that I had used only 250g mascarpone cheese for the filling, which is usually one tub here. The reason was that as a trial when I made it, I did not want to use two tubs of mascarpone cheese in case I made a mess of the cake and wasted the cheese since mascarpone cheese could be quite expensive. However if you want it to be more authentic in taste, use 500g mascarpone cheese and reduce the cream to about 100ml.
Adapted from the recipe 'Tiramisu Torte' in 'Wicked Sweet Indulgences' cookbook by The Australian Women's Weekly, published by ACP Publishing, 2002.
Makes one 22cm cake.
[Ingredients]
Sponge Cake:
4 eggs
140g caster sugar
1/3 cup (50g) plain flour
1/3 cup (50g) self-raising flour
1/3 cup (40g) cornflour
Coffee Syrup:
2 tablespoons instant coffee granules dissolved in
250ml boiling water
125ml Marsala, or coffee liqueur such as Tia Maria or Kahlua (reduce amount if you don’t want it to be too alcoholic in taste)
Mascarpone Filling and Frosting:
250g mascarpone cheese
300ml thickened (whipping) cream
1/3 cup (50g) icing sugar
2 tablespoons Coffee Syrup
Topping:
Cocoa powder for sprinkling on top
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Sponge Cake:
Sift the three types of flour three times, set aside. Beat eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. Gently fold in tripled-sifted flours. Pour into a greased 22cm cake tin. Bake in preheated 180°C oven for about 25-30 minutes.
Coffee Syrup:
Mix together, set aside. Reserve 2 tablespoons for the filling.
Mascarpone Filling and Frosting:
Beat cream with sugar until soft peaks, stir in mascarpone cheese and reserved 2 tablespoons of the Coffee Syrup.
To finish:
Split cake into 3 even layers. Brush each layer with generous amount of Coffee Syrup. Layer with Mascarpone Filling, leaving enough for spreading outside of cake. Spread remaining Mascarpone Filling over and around side of cake. Sift cocoa powder over the cake. Cover and chill in refrigerator overnight before serving.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Cakes and Cupcakes, Coffee Desserts
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Hummingbird Cake
Hummingbird Cake, or Bumblebee Cake, is like a tropical version of the yummy Carrot Cake using banana instead of carrot.
It is also a very easy cake to make as you don’t need to cream or beat the cake batter, it is just like making American muffins by folding wet ingredients into dry ingredients and it is done!
As I have never made the cake before, I did my usual thing and checked up on a few other recipes on the net before I started making it. And a good thing it was as I found out that most of the recipes required three 23cm (9-inch) cake tins for a double quantity of the recipe I posted below. The reason probably being the cake is very moist and it needs to be baked in thin layers, or else the cake will end up being too ‘wet’ if baked in a thicker layer. As I was planning to use a 20cm cake tin for mine which will make a thicker cake, I decided to reduce the liquid content to be safe. Lucky it was too as the cake was quite moist even after my reduction of the liquid proportion!
Another thing I changed was to dice the bananas instead of mashing them which the recipe I was using suggested. This was after comparing the recipes from the US (I think this cake originated from the tropical southern states of USA) on the net which a number of recipes suggested using diced bananas. One reason being if you mashed the bananas, it will result in a texture similar to an ordinary banana cake. But if you diced them, you can actually taste the chunks of banana in the cake which is very yummy!
Adapted from the recipe 'Hummingbird Cake' in The Australian Women’s Weekly mini cookbook series 'Café Cakes', published by ACP Publishing, 2001.
Makes one 20cm cake.
[Ingredients]
Cake:
150g plain flour, sifted
75g self-raising flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarb. of soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
220g (1 cup) caster sugar, sifted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
125ml (1/2 cup) canola or corn oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 (about 225g after peeling) firm ripe bananas, diced
200g drained, crushed pineapple + 60ml pineapple juice, from 440g-can crushed pineapple in natural juice
50g (scant 1/2 cup) chopped pecans or walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting:
60g cream cheese, softened
30g butter, softened
80g (1/2 cup) pure icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 20cm round or square cake tin.
2. Drain the crushed pineapple, reserve 60ml drained juice for the cake. Weigh out 200g of the drained crushed pineapple, do not squeeze the pineapple to remove excess juice. Slice each banana lengthway into 4 quarters, then cut into approximately 5mm thick chunks.
3. Combine all dry ingredients. Add lightly beaten eggs, pineapple juice, oil and vanilla, fold in lightly to combine. Fold in chopped banana, crushed pineapple and nuts.
4. Pour batter into the prepared tin and bake for 60 to 70 minutes. Stand 20 to 30 minutes before turning out. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting before serving.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
Cream softened cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla together.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Cakes and Cupcakes, Coffee Desserts
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Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
I was planning to make Kaya on Sunday in order to write up a post for it, but the weather was so sunny and balmy – spring has decided to come early, I guess – and I didn’t fancy standing in front of the stove
stirring the Kaya (apart from a promise for posting a Kaya recipe, also still owe a couple of people an improved version of my Savoury Sweet Patties recipe, will probably go to that in a couple of weeks since Mid-Autumn is around the corner…). So I made a quick Carrot Cake instead. I have not made Carrot Cake for ages, and it was one of the first cakes I learnt to make.
Historically, carrots were used to add sweetness and moisture in cakes and puddings a couple of hundred years ago. Here’s an excellent article on the history of Carrot Cake for your reading pleasure.
The recipe I used to make Carrot Cake from was originally copied from a Malaysian newspaper clipping. In the mood to experiment again – he-he, so what’s new – I compared a few other recipes from some of my cookbooks and made a few changes to what I used to do!
The result was surprisingly good by having a nutty, mealy texture because I used almond meal as one of the ingredients instead of the usual chopped walnuts. That said, however, I do miss the crunch of the chopped walnuts in the cake. So why didn’t I use walnuts? Well, this stupid dragon went shopping without checking the pantry, quite confident that there was a packet of walnuts at home. Surprise, surprise, I did have a packet at home but it had already gone to heaven, its use-by date long expired! Remembering that almond meal is used in some recipes for Carrot Cake, I rummaged through my fridge for almond meal, thankfully it was still a long time from expiring, so I used it in place of the walnuts. I also decided to separate the egg yolks and whites and beat them separately instead of my usual method of beating them whole. The result, cake came out fluffier and I liked it this way. Verdict, will definitely make it again!
Makes one 20cm cake.
[Ingredients]
Carrot Cake:
200g (approx.) grated carrot, from about 2 medium carrots
150g drained, canned crushed pineapple in natural juice (see Tip)
2 eggs, separated
200ml canola or corn oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
220g (1 cup) caster sugar
210g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
100g almond meal
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt, adjust as desired
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting:
125g cream cheese, softened
30g butter, softened
150g icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon lemon essence or 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Carrot Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Drain crushed pineapple, lightly squeeze to remove excess juice then measure out 150g. Grate carrot and set aside. Grease sides and bottom of a 20cm cake tin and line base with baking paper.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in almond meal, set aside.
3. Combine egg yolks, 2/3 of the sugar, vanilla and oil in a mixing bowl, beat briefly to mix. Mix in the carrot and pineapple.
4. Beat egg whites until soft peaks. Gradually beat in the remaining sugar, spoonful by spoonful, until stiff, glossy meringue.
5. Fold the flour mixture into the carrot mixture. Then fold in 1/3 of the meringue first, the batter will be a bit stiff, so fold in carefully. Finally fold in the remaining meringue.
6. Pour into prepared tin. Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes, test with a skewer. Remove from oven, stand 10 minutes before turning out to a rack to cool.
7. When the cake in cold, top with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
Beat all the ingredients together.
[Tip]
1. If you don’t want to use almond meal, substitute with ground walnut, or chopped walnuts if you prefer a bit of crunch in the cake.
2. Preferably use the canned crushed pineapple in natural juice, not the one that comes in syrup, or else need to adjust your sugar quantity.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.Labels: Cakes and Cupcakes, Coffee Desserts
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Pavlova
This meringue-based dessert is probably the most-loved and also most-argued dessert between Australia and New Zealand. Why? Because both countries laid claim to its invention!
However the one thing that is certain is that it was named in honour of the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), who toured both countries, first in 1926 and again in 1929, and thus provided the inspiration for the naming of this dessert. Pavlova, or as Australians like to call ‘pav’, is a soft-centred meringue filled with whipped cream and topped with fruits (traditionally either just passionfruit pulps, or strawberries and kiwis), and it is considered to be the national dessert for both countries.
There are a few different versions of its origin – I won’t go into that here as there are already tons of debates on this topic. However I will just attempt to list a chronological event of this dessert as it evolved. This is by no means a definite accurate list, they are only information I have managed to gather from different sources on the net – any additions or corrections to this information are, however, welcome. So here we go:
1926 – a recipe for a single meringue cut in half and filled like a sponge cake appeared in New Zealand.
1927 – in the second edition of ‘Terrace Tested Recipes’, recipes collected and published in Wellington, NZ by the ladies of Terrace Congregational Church, there was a recipe submitted by a Mrs McRae for a Meringue Cake. This was three whipped egg-whites, eight ounces of sugar and a dessertspoon of cornflour (the pavlova ingredients less vinegar), put into two well-greased sandwich tins ‘in a fairly hot oven on a low shelf and leave until the fire is almost out.’ The two halves were filled with whipped cream and cherries or strawberries, or served as two cakes.
1927 – the first appearance in print of the word ‘Pavlova’ (meaning the dessert) from New Zealand, in a 1927 booklet put out by Davis Gelatine NZ called ‘Davis Dainty Dishes (6th ed.)’. However, since the pavlova as we now cook it includes no gelatine, this gelatine sweet may referred to a totally different dessert.
1929 – a recipe from ‘Practical Home Cookery: Chats and Recipes’ by Mrs Katrine McKay for ‘Pavlova Cakes’ published in Christchurch, NZ. The recipe was contributed by Rose H. Rutherford of Dunedin and the cakes were cooked like meringues, with the addition of cornflour, coffee essence and chopped walnuts. Although the ingredients used were roughly those of a pavlova, it was not the pavlova as we know it today, because the mixture was then baked into three dozen little meringues.
1929 – a cookbook published by E. Futter titled ‘Home Cookery for New Zealand’ contained a recipe for ‘Meringue with Fruit Filling’ although the name Pavlova is not used.
early 1930s – a number of similar recipes for the Meringue Cake or Meringue Sponge Sandwich were published in New Zealand. Its form varied, but it was to all intents and purposes what we know as a ‘Pavlova’, sometimes even complete with passionfruit on top.
1934 – Mrs Elizabeth (Elsie) Paxton succeeded her husband as licensee of Hotel Esplanade in Perth, Western Australia, and under her invigorated guidance the afternoon teas became very desirable occasions.
1935 – there was a prize-winning recipe for a Meringue Cake in the Australian magazine, ‘Women's Mirror’ on April 2, 1935. It contained vinegar, but no cornflour and was of two parts filled with whipped cream. The recipe was contributed by ‘Rewa’ of Rongotai, NZ.
1935 – Mrs Paxton of Hotel Esplanade and her manager, Harry Nairn, approached their chef, Herbert (Bert) Sachse, to devise something different and unique for a sweet. Bert Sachse experimented on meringue cake recipes for a month and after many failures, finally lit upon one that survives as what we know it today. “I had always regretted that meringue cake (referring to the 1935 Women’s Mirror recipe?) was invariably too hard and crusty, so I set out to make something which would have a crunchy top and would cut like a marshmallow,” Sachse said in an interview with Woman’s Day magazine in 1973. According to Paxton family tradition, the pavlova was named at a meeting at which Sachse presented the now familiar cake (according to ABC Archives and Library Services, that day was December 31, 1935). The family say that either the licensee or the manager (as Sachse also recalled) remarked, “It is as light as Pavlova”. Thus the name ‘Pavlova’ was officially coined for this well-loved meringue cake!
And here is the original recipe from Sachse (extracted from ‘Woman’s Day Just Desserts’):
‘The whites of 6 eggs;
6 oz of sugar (a heaped cup);
1 oz of cornflour;
Just under a dessertspoonful of vinegar;
A few drops of vanilla essence;
1 good pinch of cream of tartar;
1/3 of a pint of cream;
3 or 4 passionfruit’
This Chef Sachse’s meringue was baked in a deep cake tin, cooled then turned out upside down and topped with whipped cream and fruit. Today however, you will find that it is more than likely to be baked in thousands of homes across the country as a free form meringue without using cake tin. The meringue base should be crisp on the outside but with a soft, marshmallowy centre. It is then usually just simply filled and topped with whipped cream and fresh fruits. There can be many variations to this simple dessert, it is really only limited by your imagination and creativity! For different presentations, try baking the meringue base in a large baking tray to serve as square Pavlova Slices, or making individual-sized meringue for Pavlova Nests. There are even recipes for making Pavlova Roll! Although pavlova is one of the most heavenly delicious desserts, it is however not the type of dessert that looks perfect. After the meringue base is baked and cooled, it is inevitable that the crust will crack and the marshmallow centre will sink back slightly creating a hollow space (from my own experience, the higher you pile the meringue, the bigger the hollow! – I still can’t figure out the reason for this, or maybe it is just I haven’t mastered the technique!?). But the good thing about the sunken centre is that it is just the perfect place to heap on the filling. So there you are, the ballerina angel of all the meringue-based desserts – Pavlova!
[Ingredients]
Meringue:
4 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon (pinch) salt
200g caster sugar
2 teaspoons cornflour
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
Filling and Topping:
300ml thickened cream
2-3 passionfruit, and/or 1 punnet strawberries and some kiwifruit
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Take a large piece of greaseproof paper and trace a 20cm (can be up to 25cm) circle on the paper. Turn the paper so that the traced side is underneath and line on top of a large baking sheet (the meringue will expand during baking, so the baking sheet should be slightly larger than the traced circle to accommodate).
2. Put egg whites and salt in a large dry, clean mixing bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, spoonful by spoonful, beating continuously after each addition, until all sugar is dissolved and meringue mixture is glossy (about 5-10 minutes).
3. Mix cornflour with vinegar and gently fold into the mixture with the essence.
4. Stick the four corners of the lining paper to the baking sheet with a tiny dot of the meringue mixture.
5. Spread the meringue inside the circle. Shape evenly, running a flat-bladed knife or spatula around edge and over top of meringue. Run knife up edge of meringue mixture, all the way around, making furrows if desired. Alternatively, spread about 5mm layer of meringue over the circle, then pipe or spoon swirls of remaining mixture round edge to form shell.
6. Put the meringue in the middle of oven and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 120°C. Bake for about 1 1/4 hours or until meringue feels firm and dry to the touch. Turn off oven, open oven door and leave ajar to cool meringue slowly in the oven, at least 4 hours or overnight.
7. Once completely cool, turn meringue very carefully onto serving plate (some people like to turn it upside down so the flat base is on top). If desired, run the tip of a small knife around inside edge of the crust surface to allow centre to sink forming a nest for filling.
8. Whip thickened cream to soft peaks and pile on top of the meringue. Top simply with passionfruit pulp or arrange cut strawberries and kiwifruit on top of the whipped cream then drizzle on passionfruit pulp.
[Tips]
1. It is best to bake the meringue at night and leave to cool in the oven overnight.
2. Once baked and cooled, the meringue can be kept for a few days in an airtight container.
3. Only fill and top the meringue close to serving time.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
[Info]
Historical Information Sources:
1. Article by Glen Ralph of the Wilmar Library, South Australia
2. Information about New Zealand food
3. Saveur
4. Lacey, J. (ed.), 1983, ‘Woman’s Day Just Desserts’, Magazine Promotions, Sydney.Labels: Coffee Desserts, Meringues
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