Nigella's Forgotten Meringue

This really could be one of the simplest sweet treats you ever eat...what could be easier than whipping up meringue, spreading it in a tin and then leaving it overnight in the oven...completely forgotten!

This is also perfect if you tend to forget to check the bakes in your oven as I occasionally do, as there's no checking required. You literally turn the oven off as soon as the meringue goes in. The resulting meringue is more like marshmallow and then if that wasn't enough it's topped with cream and luscious summer fruits. I did enjoy these little puds but they are very soft, almost wobbly in their marshmallowy-ness and maybe it would have been nice to have a bit of variation in the texture but still delicious and some of the other tasters really enjoyed them!

You can either cut your marshmallowy meringue into 12 squares or if you prefer a more dainty offering then you could go for 16. The great thing about these is that you can also choose whatever fruit you like to top the meringues...I'm quite partial to raspberries so next time I might use them instead.

 

 

As this is a lovely light, summery treat I'm entering it into this month's Forever Nigella event which is run by Sarah at Maison Cupcake and this month is hosted by Homemade by Fleur. I think you could quite easily serve the more refined smaller squares as part of an afternoon tea.

Ingredients

6 egg whites

1/2 tsp salt

250g caster sugar, plus 2 teaspoons

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1tsp vanilla extract

Butter for greasing

250ml double cream

2 passionfruits

175g blackberries

175g strawberries

This really is one of the easiest things to make. Just preheat the oven to 220c/200c fan/gas 7. Then all you need to do is whisk the egg whites with the salt until they start to form soft peaks. Then add in the sugar bit by bit and then the cream of tartar and vanilla. Continue whisking until the egg whites are stiff and glossy.

The original recipe didn't state a size for the tin but it suggests a swiss roll tin and I had one that was 32x18 cm which worked well. The only thing I didn't like were the slightly sloping sides making the side squares slightly irregular, so I therefore cut these off to make straight edges when I took it out of the tin the next day. So... when you've prepared your meringue and tin, spoon the meringue into it and spread evenly.

That's the hardwork over, as soon as you put it in the oven, turn it off immediately and then just leave overnight. The next day when you're ready to serve whip up the double cream until thickened but still soft. Then spread it over the meringue in the tin and dot with the seeds and pulp from the two passionfruits (the original recipe said 4 but it depends how much you like them!). I then cut my meringue up into squares and removed from the tin before adding the fruit. It cuts nicely into 12 pieces but if you wanted them smaller it could easily do 16. So the final step is just quartering the strawberries and tossing them in 2 tsp of sugar. Finally, scatter the strawberries and blackberries over each square and serve!

* Original recipe from www.nigella.com

Strawberries & Cream Layer Cakes and Nielsen-Massey Product Review

It's that time of year again...Wimbledon starts tomorrow, so what better way to get into the swing than with individual strawberries and cream layer cakes. These are lovely little cakes that I've been looking forward to making for ages. They also gave me the ideal opportunity to use and review Nielsen-Massey vanilla samples that I have been sent. So I'll start with the review and then move onto the recipe...

I felt that to give you an honest and unbiased review I ought to do a blind taste test to compare Nielsen-Massey's premium vanilla extract with vanilla essence...is it really worth going the extra mile and using vanilla extract in your bakes? So without further ado I whipped up 28 mini vanilla cupcakes, half were made with vanilla flavouring/essence and half with Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract. I then found 14 willing volunteers who took part in the taste test, they ate one of each cake without knowing which was which.

Each tester was then asked to pick a favourite if they could taste a difference. And the results... 11 picked the Nielsen-Massey vanilla cupcake as their favourite, 2 picked the vanilla flavouring and 1 said they couldn't taste the difference.

So the results were fairly conclusive. My favourite quote from a tester was that the cake with the extract gave 'more of a vanilla experience'! Many testers also commented on the fact that the flavouring tasted and smelt more chemically and left an after taste, whereas the Nielsen-Massey product was more natural. I guess this is due to the fact that the extract is made with finest quality vanilla beans.

You can buy Nielsen-Massey vanilla products in many supermarkets and at Lakeland but one thing you will notice is the price differential between buying vanilla essence but as Mary Berry always says...'buy the best you can afford'.

So if you do bake regularly with vanilla or are making a special cake, I would recommend using vanilla extract if you are able as it doesn't just add flavour, it also complements and enhances other flavours too. If you watched the last series of Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard, he actually threatened to throw one lady out of his kitchen as she wasn't using vanilla extract!

I recently made these 'Window Cookies' using Nielsen-Massey's Madagascan Vanilla Bean Paste too. They had a lovely vanilla flavour and you could see the little seeds in the dough. The bean paste can also be used in custard, ice cream and creme brulee or in any other recipe that requires vanilla.

So there we have it! And now for the recipe...

These strawberries and cream layer cakes are perfect for summer and the start of Wimbledon. It also makes a change to have an individual cake rather than a slice of cake. They're not the neatest bake I've ever made but they certainly were tasty. The cake is a sponge recipe made with vanilla extract and interestingly the recipe also included a little ground almond. Each little cake was baked in a mini cake tin. However, if you don't have mini cake tins it is still possible to make these. You can just make a regular large sponge and then use a circular cutter to cut out sponge rounds which can be stacked.

Once the mini cakes were baked, each one was split into three. These are easy to assemble, just whip up some cream with a teaspoon of vanilla extract and thinly slice some strawberries. I started by spreading a little strawberry jam onto each of the bottom two layers and then I piped my cream on top as it gives a better finish, it's also advisable not to overwhip the cream, it should still be quite soft. Then place some of the sliced strawberries on top of the cream.

To decorate the top use a little icing sugar and make it up to a fairly stiff consistency. The icing I used here also had a tablespoon of rosewater in it. The little strawberries on top really finish it off and these can be made in advance. Use pre-coloured sugarpaste or colour your own. You need about four strawberries per cake. To make them just roll little balls of red sugarpaste into a teardrop shape and then top with a tiny blob of green icing for the stalks. To make the strawberries more realistic you can also prick holes in it with a steralized pin or a scribe. Cover the top layer of each cake with icing, leave to set for about four minutes before adding the sugarpaste strawberries. You can then put the whole thing together.

All I need now is a glass of Pimms....oh and maybe some sunshine! :-)

N.B I was sent the Nielsen-Massey vanilla products to review with no expectation but an honest opinion and I received no recompense for the review.

Ingredients

115g caster sugar
115g softened butter
2 eggs
85g self-raising flour
30g almonds
1tsp Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract

300ml double cream
1tsp Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract
200g strawberries
3 tablespoons strawberry jam
200g icing sugar
1tbsp rosewater
Red and green sugarpaste

To make the sponge, whisk together the butter and sugar, it should be pale and fluffy. Then whisk in the eggs before sifting in the self-raising flour. Finally fold in the almonds along with the vanilla extract and divide between the cake tins. The recipe suggests this amount makes 10 cakes but I would suggest dividing it between 8 tins as it seemed a little sparse between 10. One thing to note is that the instructions don't suggest greasing the tin but just in case I greased and floured each one which I think helped.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180c/160c fan/gas 4 for 15-20 minutes until springy to the touch. You can then allow to cool in the pan. To remove slide a knife around the edge of each pan. To finish follow the instructions above.

* Recipe adapted from mini cakes & other bitesize treats