Eton Mess

How was your bank holiday weekend? We had a lovely weekend away celebrating J's birthday. The day before we left I cooked a 3 course pre-birthday dinner but as it was a working day, I chose a quick and easy menu including this really simple dessert. I layered fresh strawberries, strawberry jam, cream swirled with strawberry jam and crushed meringue nests to create this British classic. We thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a really nice and refreshing dessert. 

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes hosted by myself this month and co hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter is E for Eton Mess. 

I'm also sending this to Dead Easy Desserts hosted by Tina from The Spicy Pear and co hosted by Sarah from Maison Cupcake. This was ready in under 10 minutes and is ideal when you have unexpected guests especially when strawberries are in season.

 strawberry jam, meringue nests, double cream, fresh strawberries 

 I added some strawberry jam to the whipped cream instead of sugar and to get some extra strawberry flavour

 I layered the dessert with some cream, strawberry jam, fresh strawberries, crushed meringues

 

Coffee Cake with Meringue

This is a twist on a classic coffee and walnut cake. It has a coffee meringue top and a drizzle of coffee icing and is definitely one for coffee lovers. I used Camp Coffee essence in the cake and filling which really added to the coffee flavour. It's a recipe that I've adapted slightly from BBC Good Food. My colleague's reaction to this cake was "I've died and gone to heaven and I won't be coming back!" It's a really good way of using up leftover egg whites which I had plenty of as I made a lot of custard recently for an upcoming post.

 adding coffee and walnuts to the meringue 

 adding some walnuts to the cake batter 

 meringue topped cake, normal cake 

 place  1 cake on a cake board/serving plate 

 add the coffee filling 

 place the meringue topped cake on top and drizzle with coffee icing 

 

Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food 

For the cake
175g softened butter
175g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

75 walnuts

2 tablespoon coffee essence 

2 teaspoon coffee mixture

For the meringue topping
2 egg whites
100g caster sugar
3 tsp instant coffee granules mixed with 3 tablespoon boiling water (coffee mixture)
25g chopped walnuts

For the filling

100g butter
200g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon coffee essence 

1 teaspoon coffee mixture 

For the drizzle icing
3 -6  tbsp icing sugar depending on consistency

Coffee mixture 

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Grease and line 2  20cm sandwich tins.
• Firstly make the meringue by whisking the egg whites until stiff.
• Gradually add in the sugar and continue whisking.
• Make the coffee mixture by dissolving 3 teaspoons of instant coffee granules in 3 tablespoon of boiling water.
• Gently fold in walnuts and 1 teaspoon of coffee mixture into the meringue. Set aside.
• Next make the cake mixture by creaming butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. 
• Add in the eggs then fold in the flour and baking powder.
• Add 2 teaspoons of coffee mixture and 2 tablespoons of coffee essence. 
• Gently fold in the nuts. 
• Divide the cake mixture between the 2 tins, putting more mixture in one than the other.
• Spread the meringue on top of the tin containing less cake mixture.
• Bake the plain sponge for 20-22 mins until it is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Continue baking the meringue topped sponge for a further 40-42 minutes.
• Allow cakes to cool completely in their tins. 
• Now make the coffee filling by beating butter and icing sugar together until smooth. Gradually add in the coffee essence and coffee mixture. 
• Place the plain cake on a cake board or serving tray. Spread the coffee filling evenly and then gently place the meringue topped cake on top.
• Add 3-6 tablespoons of icing sugar to the remaining coffee mixture and stir to mix well (you may need more icing sugar depending on consistency) 
• Drizzle the icing over the top. 

The Picnic Game

Did you know that June 18th was International Picnic Day? Louise from Months of Edible Celebrations is hosting the Picnic Game which is based on a children's game where you say "I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing A___" The next person recites the first line and adds in what they are going to bring for B and so on until you reach the end of the alphabet. For this virtual picnic, Louise asked bloggers to pick a letter and post their picnic contribution on their blog. I chose the letter M so I'm bringing Mini Meringue Kisses to the picnic!

I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing....

A - Artichokes

B - Baked Beans

C - Cauliflower Tabbouleh

D - Dunkin' Donuts with maple syrup & honey frosting

E - Eggplant Casserole











F - Frosty Summer Salad with Cranberry, Pineapple and Beets

G - Mixed Green Salad with Goat Cheese and cooa nibs drizzled with a dark chocolate balsamic vinaigrette

H - Halibut and Salsa Verde

I - Iced Coffee Two Ways

J - Jubilee Sandwich

K - Key Lime and Ambarella Juice 

L - Limoncello Biscotti

M - Mini Meringue Kisses - Lemon Curd or Rose & strawberries  - click on the links for the recipe

Make sure you check out Months of Edible Celebrations on July 1st to see the full A-Z of goodies in the picnic basket!

Rose and Strawberry Kisses

I'm sure you've noticed that I participate in a lot of baking/blogging challenges. Sometimes I have a recipe that I want to make that fits and other times I create a recipe specifically for the challenge. This is a creation recipe for 2 challenges - one an old favourite and another a brand new challenge.

Firstly, Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and co-hosted by Kate from What Kate Baked set a lovely FLORAL theme for May. As Karen's birthday is in May, she asked us to send in something with floral flavours and flowers. Happpy (belated) birthday Karen - I hope you enjoy these :) 

Secondly, a new challenge I discovered which is the Improv Challenge hosted by Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.  It's a  monthly party where everyone takes the same two assigned ingredients and lets their imaginations run wild.  This month the two ingredients are strawberries and cream.

So I got to thinking about what to make for each of these challenges and then came up with something that would fit both. The inspiration comes from these lemon meringue kisses I made for a friend's birthday last year. I decided to make Rose & Strawberry Kisses which is floral and contains strawberries and cream! 

Colour co-ordinated ingredients :) I found this lovely concentrated Rose culinary essence at an Asian grocery store - it is AMAZING!! I would highly recommend this over rose water (which is what you can buy at a supermarket).  The colour and flavour is intense and it tastes great! You can really smell and taste the rose. I'm so glad I found this (amongst other things)

 adding the rose essence to the meringue - love the pink colour

 looks slighly orange-y but I'm sure it's the lighting, I promise it's pink! 

 Pipe meringue 'kisses' 

 Chop up fresh strawberries

 Fold into freshly whipped cream

 Rose & Strawberry Kisses :) 

 I made a few large meringues so I could have a Royal Rose Eton Mess - crushed meringue with strawberries and cream, fresh strawberries topped with a 'strawberry crown' I won't lie... I ate the whole bowl myself (in 2 sittings) 

 view from the top 

For the meringue shells (I made a double recipe which yielded 76 stars or 38 kisses and 3 large meringues for my eton mess)

This is for a SINGLE recipe which makes ~40 stars or 20 kisses

2 egg whites

pinch of salt

150g caster sugar

2 teaspoons rose essence

optional : drop of pink food colouring

• Preheat oven to 90C. 
• Line 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper. 
• Whisk egg whites in an electric mixer until foamy.
• Add salt and increase speed to medium-high.
• Slowly sprinkle in the sugar.
• Continue to beat eggs until they become thick, glossy and hold stiff peaks.
• Add the rose essence and a drop of pink food colouring.
• Spoon into piping bag.
• Pipe little stars as shown using a star tip onto the baking sheets. 
• Using the back of a spoon, flatten out half of the stars, making them as flat as possible (for the bottom) but not necessarily making them larger. 
• Bake for 2 hours until they are no longer sticky. 
• Store in an airtight container.

For the filling

• Finely chop a bowl of fresh strawberries that have been washed and hulled.
• Whip a carton of whipping cream or double cream until firm.
• Stir the strawberries into the cream.

To assemble

• Place 1 teaspoon of strawberries & cream filling on a 'flat' star and top with another similar sized star. 
• Serve immediately if possible.

Edible Cupcake Box: A Valentine's Treat

I saw these on sweet simple stuff last night and thought I HAVE to make this... IMMEDIATELY!! They are so super cute and perfect for Valentine's which is coming up. They are really easy to make and there's no baking involved (unless you want to bake your own meringues)  They are not perfect but I am really, really pleased with them. I have a big smile on my face and can't wait to give them out! These would be great as party favours or gifts and they can be adapted for different holidays... the possibilities are endless!

I am linking this to Sweet Luv @Zesty Palette

and to Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday Link Party hosted by Kitchen Fun with my 3 sons.

 I used mini cupcake liners 

 Melt strawberry buttons (available in the supermarket) or candy melts and spread a thin layer over the case. I did 2 layers to make the cases sturdier. 

 Fill with little goodies - I used love hearts - and top with a meringue

 I used edible glue to stick the hearts and sprinkles on the meringue. 

 For detailed instructions and lovely pictures, click here