 |
| Red Berry, Star Anise and Almond Crunch Meringue Torte |
Everyone needs an over-the-top, scrumptious dessert once in a while, and this one ticks all the boxes
Serves 8-10
Red Berry, Star Anise and Almond Crunch Meringue Torte ingredients
Torte: 6 egg whites 1 and 1/2 cups caster sugar. 1 tablespoon cornflour. 2 teaspoons lemon juice. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract with star anise. 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon. 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg. 3/4 cup whole skin-on almonds, roasted and roughly chopped. Raspberry caulk: 300 grams raspberries. 3 tablespoons icing sugar. 1 tablespoon lime juice. To assemble: 1 and 1/2 cups cream, softly whipped. 2 punnets raspberries. 1 punnet strawberries, halved or quartered. praline almonds, as below. icing sugar for dusting
Red Berry, Star Anise and Almond Crunch Meringue Torte recipe: Line two baking trays with baking paper and draw a 20 cm circle on each. Preheat the oven to 120C. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks then gradually add the sugar. Whisk until thick and glossy and the sugar is dissolved. Undissolved sugar will cause the meringue to weep. Using a large metal spoon, fold in the cornflour, lemon juice, vanilla, spices and the almonds. Spoon half the meringue into the centre of each circle and spread evenly, swirling to make soft peaks. Bake for 1 hour alternating the trays half way through then the turn the oven off and leave the meringues inside to cool. Don't open the door as this should help prevent the meringue from cracking
Coulis: Put the raspberries, icing sugar and lime juice in a food processor and process until smooth. Press through a sieve and discard the seeds
To assemble: Place one meringue on a serving plate and spread over half the cream. Hull 1 punnet of the raspberries and half the strawberries and scatter over the cream. Top with the second meringue and pile on the remaining cream. Top with the remaining unhulled raspberries and strawberries and drizzle with some of the coulis. Scatter with some of the praline almonds and dust with icing sugar. Serve the extra coulis and praline almonds separately. By then, the Meringue Torte is ready
