Ann Reardon

Meringue Cake Recipe

meringue recipe pavlova

Meringue cake is a pavlova that is dressed up for the ball.  Its’ proper name is a Spanish Wind Torte and as a child I used to admire the photo of it that adorned the front of Time-Life Foods of The World Book, “The Cooking of Vienna’s Empire”. It is a perfect gluten and wheat free birthday cake for friends with intolerances. Here I have filled it with cream and fruit, you can also add shaved chocolate to the mix if you would like it even more sweet.

Ingredients – meringue circles

8 Egg whites or 288g (10.16 ounces)
570g (20.11 ounces) or 2 2/3 cups caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Ingredients – meringue covering for the cake
4 Egg whites or 144g (5.08 ounces)
280g (9.88 ounces) or 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tsp caster (super find) sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Ingredients – Royal icing for the details
1 Egg white or 36g (1.27 ounces)
150g (5.29 ounces) or 1 cup plus 3 Tbsp icing (powdered) sugar
purple food colouring and silver cachous (optional)

Ingredients – To fill the cake
600mL (20.29 fluid ounces) or 2 1/2 cups plus 1 tsp cream (35% fat)
1 Tbsp or 8g (0.28 ounces) icing (powdered) sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
500g (17.64 ounces) or 3 1/3 cups of Fruit of your choice – eg strawberries, kiwi fruit, seedless grapes
200g (7.05 ounces) finely chopped milk chocolate (optional – I don’t think this dessert needs it but some traditional recipes include chocolate)

STEP 1: Take a saucer or a cereal bowl, turn it upside down and use it to draw 4 circles onto nonstick baking paper (this is better than greaseproof paper). I used a plate that was 19 cm (7.48 inches) or 7 1/2 inches (5.08 centimetres) in diameter.

Whisk together the 8 egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar for your circles.  Continue to beat until firm peaks form, you should be able to turn the bowl upside down without it falling out.

Scoop into a piping bag and pipe 5 large circles.

Bake at 93ºC (200ºF) for approximately 45 minutes.  Allow to cool.

STEP 2: Whisk together your 4 egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar for covering the cake until stiff peaks form.  Place half of this mixture into a piping bag.

Place one of you meringue circles onto a fresh sheet of non-stick baking paper.  Pipe a circle of meringue on top of it.  Carefully place a baked meringue circle on top of that.  Pipe another ring of meringue, top with baked circle and repeat until you have stacked all five rings.

Use the remaining meringue mixture to coat the sides of the ‘cake’.  Using a clean L shaped ruler to ensure sides are smooth and straight. See video below for details.

Bake at 93ºC (200ºF) for 30 minutes, then continue to bake for another 15 minutes checking it every 5 minutes – you do not want it to brown.  Allow to cool.

meringue pavlova recipe

STEP 3 Royal Icing Details: Place your 1 egg white and icing sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until very stiff, when you turn the beaters off and lift them the mixture that is on the beaters should hold its shape.

Scoop most of the royal icing into a ziplock bag or piping bag fitted with a star shaped nozzle.  Colour the remaining small amount purple and place into a seperate bag.

Transfer your cake to the plate you will be serving it on.  Using the white royal icing pipe a border around the top and base of you cake and then pipe a design on the sides.  Create contrast with some little purple flowers finished with a silver cachous in the centre.pavlova meringue recipe

STEP 4: Fill your cake Wash, dry and dice your fruit, reserve a few pieces uncut for the top.  Using an electric mixer whisk the cream until soft peaks form (do not over whip or you will make butter).  Fold in the fruit and chopped chocolate if you are using it.

Scoop into the centre of the cake and top with reserved fresh fruit.

gluten free cake recipe

Best eaten fresh but you can store in the fridge overnight if you need.  A word of warning if you are leaving it in the fridge overnight the meringue will begin to ‘weep’, which means a sugary syrup will start to drain to the bottom of your cake and possibly through your fridge.  If you are using a flat cake stand like the one pictured place some paper towel or a plate under the cake stand.

2013

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

15 Comments View Comments

  1. 1chattel

  2. Thank you Ann. I am turning 71 and purchased the book Cooking of Vienna’s Empire in my early twenties. I have used the booklet that came with it many many times. ( grandparents came from Czechoslovakia) Never made Spanish Windtorte because it appeared to be such a challenge. thanks to you, I am ready to try it.

    • Hi Barbara, How lovely. We hope your baking efforts are a success.

  3. I made this for my Aunt’s 90th birthday lunch this year. It and a traditional fruit cake served 16 people generously with plenty left over. I would definitely agree it would serve 10 on its own, with seconds. Mine didn’t look as professionally gorgeous as the pictures, but it still tasted fabulous and was surprisingly easy to do. Time-consuming, yes, but not difficult. I got loads of complients, so thank you very much, Ann, for a gem of a recipe.

    • *compliments (oops!)

  4. This looks so beautiful. I was wondering if the swirls on the side could be done in meringue and cooked along with the rest of the cake? rather than using royal icing? Is there some reason that would not work? Thanks

    • Hi imogen yes you could do that, it might be better with italian meringue as it will hold its shape better, normal meringue is a bit soft for fine details

  5. How many people will this cake serve? thanks!

    • 10 easily

  6. Wow, that cake is so beautiful!!!! I need to make one tomorrow:)

  7. Absolutely gorgeous. Gonna try it tomorrow. Thanks for the video. You are such a great teacher!

  8. That is absolutely gorgeous, I will be making that in the next few weeks for dessert for the family. Very clever, thanks Ann

  9. Awesome, reminds me of my 1st attempt at a pav which sunk in the middle. I filled it with fruit and cream and piped cream prettily around the outside. To this day 40 years on it is still the best tasting pav I have ever made.

  10. I love this – elegant, light and so many possible variations! However (pardon my ignorance here) how do you best cut it without it suddenly turning into an ugly mess? I almost think making individual ones would be a better plan with a meringue disc top.

    • Hi Martica Pitt, you need a super sharps finely serated knif to kid of saw through the meringue without crushing it, individual ones would be pretty. If you make them upload a picture with a comment here.

Leave a Reply to imogen Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

*

ADD JPEG TO YOUR COMMENT