Garden cake


The weather turned amazing again – after a stint of summer here in Médoc, we had the classic April showers a tad too long. As a result, the flowers and foliage are sublime and the grass is greener than ever. I couldn’t resist picking a few flowers to decorate a cake I have been longing to make on this sunny day – the garden cake. I have always imagined this sweet temptation to be served in a garden, with a glass of Pimm’s (very Wimbledon) and a pretty summer dress à la Scott Fitzgerald. This lovely cake is composed of two large meringues with whipped cream and berries in the middle and on top. I like a ‘melt in your mouth’ Italian style meringue, so the center should be slightly soft. Here’s a few good tips – the egg whites should always be at room temperature before whipping, you should use minimum 50 grams sugar per egg white (or they won’t set properly), add sugar tablespoon by tablespoon, gradually when the egg white starts forming, and use a large glass bowl to whisk the eggs.

Ingredients:

6 egg whites
350 grs caster sugar
250 ml whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
Big handfuls of your favourite berries – in this cake there are raspberries, blueberries, and red berries
Pretty flowers & leaves of your choice – mine came from my garden, they are used for decoration and not to be ingested. (make sure to rinse them well).

You can make this cake even more special by decorating it with edible flowers, just make sure to choose them well for safety reasons.

Pre-heat your oven 140° celsius.

Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks start to appear, then you can start adding the sugar gradually, spoon by spoon, until the whites become glossy then stiff – this should take approx. 10-12 minutes. I use an electric whisk.

On a parchment-lined baking tray, form two meringues (20 cm width/5 cm height), one next to the other, and bake for 45-55 minutes. When ready, take out of the oven and leave to cool.

For the filling:

Whip 250 ml cream till light and fluffy, add vanilla essence. I don’t add sugar to the cream as the meringues are sweet enough.

When the meringues are totally cool, add the whipped cream, scatter as many berries as you like, then sandwich the other meringue on top. Add more whipped cream on top of the second meringue. Now you can simply enjoy the last part of decorating your cake with berries, leaves and flowers – all things bright and beautiful.

Note: The flowers and leaves in the photo of the cake are only used for decorative purposes and not to be ingested.

View post ‘Garden cake revisited‘.

37 thoughts on “Garden cake

  1. mimi, i just took a look around your blog – it’s stunning! i’m living in london at the moment and also spent a short time in paris. it’s amazing you’ve lived and traveled so extensively!

  2. Pingback: Miss Moss : Manger
  3. Look fantastic. Mine meringues are in the oven, but much more than 50 min and at the bottom the eggs look still fresh. What do you think is the problem? Just to mention that the all site is beautiful!!!!

    1. Hi Diana! Regarding the meringues, I can think of two factors: sugar dissolving and humid weather did the sugar dissolve well when you were beating the mixture? Sometimes, when the weather is very humid, it can make meringues more difficult to prepare & cook…

      I hope it worls out – perhaps you can try to leave them a bit longer. Oven settings can vary. Don’t be discouraged I am sure it will work out! Mimix

      1. Thank you very much for the reply! The cake is delicious! Everybody loved it! Definitely going to choose another of your receipts .. Regards from Bulgaria 🙂

  4. This is such a lovely cake! I made it this afternoon, and it was a huge success. We had a bit of trouble eating it because it was so beautiful! Thank you for have such a fantastic collection of amazing recipes!

  5. ….è meravigliosa….complimenti..sono della Sicilia..e noi per dolci nn scerziamo…ma è davvero bella e sicuramente buona…! A me piace dipingere i fiori…ti faccio i miei complimenti per tutto…sono su fb Mariapia Laudicina..chissà potremmo scambiarci le ricette…adoro la Francia

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