Rich cherry meringue cake

Press, 12 April 1989, Page 17

Rich cherry meringue cake

This is a really popular cake! Everybody who has eaten a piece of it, says how much they like it, and comes hopefully back for another piece. A cake like this will keep well for several days, as long as you hide it carefully. This means that you can work well ahead if you are expecting guests for dinner, or if you like to have something special to serve over a holiday weekend.

I like a cake which seems rich enough to serve for dessert, but is also suitable for eating with tea or coffee at any time of day. It is especially good for people like me, who find it a chore to make an icing for a cake, after waiting for it to cook and cool. I seem to lose interest in making the icing by this stage. With this cake, the meringue topping is spread over the uncooked cake, and you can clean up the kitchen completely as soon as you have put it in the oven.

As far as I am concerned, this cake has only one drawback. It is not altogether easy to remove from its tin without turn-

ing it upside down, onto its fairly fragile meringue topping. I have two waays to solve this problem. I leave the cake to cool in its tin for about 10 minutes, cover its' surface with a piece of teflon non-stick cake liner, put a teatowel or something soft over this, then tip the cake and tin upside down, onto a plate or board.

I life away the pan lining material, put an inverted plate against the base of the cake, and turn it over again. If I work fast, the meringue does not collapse.

For the other method, I have to think about removing the cake from its tin before I line the tin. I put four strips of paper crosswise into the empty tin, then line it as normal. After cooking and cooling the cake for 10 minutes, I hold the ends of two of the strips together, and get someone else to hold the other two. We then lift out the cake, which is held by these four slings. This means that the cake does not have to be turned upside down, onto the meringue.

100 g butter 1/2 cup sugar 2 egg yolks 14 tsp almond essence 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 cup flour 1 tsp baking powder 2 Tbsp coconut 14 cup glace cherries 1/4 cup milk 2 egg whites 5 Tbsp sugar y 4 tsp almond essence 1 tsp cornflour 1 cup coconut >4 - 14 cup glace cherries

The ingredients are listed in order of use. The base is mixed before the meringue is made.

Warm the butter until it is soft, but not liquid. Beat the softened butter with the sugar until light coloured, in a bowl or food processor. Separate the eggs putting the whites in a clean bowl big enough to beat them in. Add the egg yolks, almond essence and vanilla to the butter mixture, and beat again.

Measure the flour, baking powder, coconut and cherries into another container, and toss with a fork to combine.

Tip these dry ingredients and the milk onto the creamed mixture, and fold in or process very briefly, in short bursts, until mixed.

Spread this mixture into a 23 cm ring tin which has been lined with baking paper or with a teflon non-stick ring pan liner. See introduction for alternatives, for easy removal ... Drop the mixture in blobs, then spread it as evenly as possible. Beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the sugar, (measured in standard level spoons) and beat until the peaks stand up without turning over, when the beater is removed. Add the essense, cornflour and coconut, and beat briefly or fold in to mix.

Spread over the uncooked cake, and decorate with the cherries, cut in pieces or left whole. Bake at 160 C for 45 to 55 minutes, until the top is a light golden brown, and the sides start to shrink from the tin. Leave to stand for 10 minutes, then remove carefully from the tin. When cold, store on a flat plate in a lightly covered

Alison Hoist’s Food Facts .a

container, at room temperature, up to a few days. Refrigerate, tightly covered, for longer storage.

To cut this cake neatly, use a sharp serrated knife. If the ' meringue sticks or breaks, dip the knife in hot water first.