A luxurious Mixed Berry Meringue Cake. Four layers of Almond and Amarettini meringues filled with fresh cream, crushed Amarettini biscuits, and fresh berries.
Leave the meringues to continue drying out when the oven is off 2 hourshrs
Total Time 2 hourshrs50 minutesmins
Course Dessert
Cuisine British
Servings 6
Calories 941kcal
INGREDIENTS
For the meringues
10medium egg whites
300gramsicing sugar sieved
200gramsground almonds
50gramsamarettini biscuitsfinely blitzed
50gramscornflour sieved
Filling and topping
600mldouble creamor whipping cream
50gramsamarettini biscuits lightly crushed
1kgfresh mixed berries
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 140 deg C Conventional oven.
Draw four 20cm circles on to baking parchment. Turn the paper over to avoid the pencil marks from baking into the meringues, then place on baking trays.
Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Sieve together the icing sugar and cornflour.
Keep the mixer going, gradually adding the icing sugar and cornflour, a tablespoon at a time until well incorporated and stiff peaks are formed.
Fold in the ground almonds and the blitzed amarettini biscuits, being careful not to lose any volume of air.
Put the meringue mix into a disposable piping bag, snipping the end to create an opening of 1cm. Start by piping a few spots of meringue under the baking parchment to help it stick to the baking sheet.
Beginning at the inside edge of the circles, pipe the mixture onto the baking parchment until you have filled each of the circles completely. If you don’t have any disposable piping bags, spread the meringue evenly with a palette knife to a height of approx 1cm.
Bake for 30 – 35 minutes until the meringues are crisp and slightly golden. Turn the oven off and leave the door open slightly to allow the meringues to dry out further and cool down completely. This could take an hour or two.
When completely cold peel off the baking parchment. At this stage they can be carefully wrapped in fresh baking parchment and kept in an air tight container for a day or two until needed. If you leave them any longer, the sugar may start to weep out of the meringue, which can look a little unsightly.
Whisk the cream until soft peaks are formed. Place one meringue layer onto a plate or cake stand, spreading a quarter of the whipped cream evenly on top.
Scatter a quarter of the amarettini biscuits over the cream, followed by a quarter of the berries.
Complete the process three more times finishing off with the berries piled high on top. Any leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 48 hours.
Notes
TIPS AND FAQ’S FOR MAKING A MERINGUE CAKE
Don’t over mix – When you add the ground almonds and amarettini biscuits don’t overmix the meringue, as you could lose some of the volume.
Whipping the cream – Don’t over whip the cream or it will become grainy and turn to butter. Try using Whipping Cream as an alternative to Double Cream.
How do you store a Meringue Cake?The meringue will soften very quickly once you start to add the fruit and cream. It’s best to assemble just before serving. You can keep any leftovers in the fridge for up to 48 hours.
Can you eat Raw Meringue?The uncooked raw meringue should not be eaten as it contains raw egg whites.