I used to avoid making meringue. It gave me flashbacks to whisking eggs and sugar by hand in my student digs, when achieving stiff peaks took the whole of an episode of Ally McBeal. If you’ve got an electric whisk, though, as I do now, it’s a different experience, and meringue is just as easy to whip up as a cake. Just make sure your bowl is clean and your eggs are fresh.
I’m a big fan of the sunniness of the clementine in this kind-of cake to offset the nutty richness of meringue and cream, but raspberry or blackberry would work just as well. For a storecupboard alternative, try tinned mandarin segments.
Hazelnut and clementine meringue
Prep 30 min
Cook 1 hr 10 min
Serves 8
200g blanched hazelnuts
3 egg whites
150g caster sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
120g runny honey
450ml double cream
4-6 clementines, 2 zested, the rest peeled and segmented
20g dark chocolate
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Toast the hazelnuts for eight-10 minutes in the oven, until they’re slightly darker and nuttily fragrant. They’ll whisper to you as you take them out of the oven – tiny hisses and sizzles – it’s cute. Leave to cool, and turn down the oven to 150C/300F/gas 2.
While the hazelnuts cool, prepare the meringue. Whisk the egg whites to a dense foam in a very clean steel or glass bowl (plastic retains traces of grease) using an electric whisk. Gradually add the sugar a couple of tablespoons at a time, whisking really well between each addition. Keep whisking until the meringue is firm and smooth, and holds in stiff peaks when you slowly lift the whisk out.
Set aside 50g of the toasted nuts and put the rest in a food processor. Pulse briefly until reduced to very small pieces – you want a hazelnut rubble, not a fine meal – too much processing will release the oils from the nuts, affecting the meringue. Stir in the cornflour, then gently fold the mixture into the meringue.
Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper and draw on three 20cm x 14cm rectangles. Divide the meringue mixture equally between these rectangles and spread each to a smooth layer. Bake for an hour, then turn off the heat and leave to cool in the oven with the door ajar.
Meanwhile, prepare the cream: heat the honey in a large pan over a medium heat. Let it bubble for a minute or two until it darkens slightly and becomes fragrant. Meanwhile, heat 100ml of the double cream on the hob until scalding. Once the honey is ready, whisk in the hot cream. Stir in the clementine zest, then leave to cool.
To assemble, whisk the remaining cream with the zesty honey mixture until thick and smooth. Roughly chop the reserved 50g nuts. Spread a meringue layer with first cream, then grated chocolate, then hazelnuts then clementine segments. Stack another meringue layer on top and repeat.
- Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay
