Rory's Soft Meringue Cake With Red Plum And Star Anise Jelly

Watch How to Cook Well at Christmas with Rory O'Connell Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd of December at 6.30pm on RTÉ One.

Rory's Soft Meringue Cake With Red Plum And Star Anise Jelly

Poached Plums – 2 star anise – 400ml Water – 400g caster sugar – 8 plums, halved and stones removed if possible

Ingredients

Plum Jelly – 500ml plum poaching syrup – 3 leaves of gelatine

Ingredients

Soft Meringue Cake – 100g egg whites – 225g caster sugar – A little non-scented oil such as grapeseed or sunflower

Ingredients

To assemble the dish: – Reserved poached plums – 500ml of softly whipped cream. – Mint leaves or edible sweet geranium leaves ( optional)

Ingredients

2. Cover with a lid and simmer very gently until the plums feel barely tender. Turn off the heat and allow the contents of the saucepan to cool completely.

Method

3. Strain the syrup off the plums and remove the stones and the 2 star anise. You can reserve these for garnishing the finished dish if you wish. Keep the plums cold.

Method

4. Measure 500ml of the syrup for the jelly. If there is excess syrup reserve that for serving as a sauce with the assembled dish or for making a homemade plum lemonade.

Method

5. Soak the gelatine leaves covered in a bowl of cold water until they become soft and flexible. Measure 100ml of the syrup and heat in a small saucepan until hot.

Method

6. Add them to the hot syrup and stir gently until dissolved. Add some of the remaining syrup to the gelatine mix and then combine both mixtures, stirring gently as you go.

Method

7. Pour the syrup into glasses, little cups or your serving dish of choice and place in the fridge to set. This will take about 4 hours.

Method

1. Heat oven to 180c

Soft Meringue Cake

2. Draw a 20cm circle on a sheet of parchment paper. Pencil works best for this. Place the sheet of parchment with the pencil marked side down on a baking sheet.

Soft Meringue Cake

Using a pastry brush, paint the surface of the paper lightly with the oil. The paper should not look heavily oiled.

Soft Meringue Cake

3. Place the egg whites and caster sugar in a stand mixer and whisk at full speed for c 15 minutes or until the mixture will hold very stiff peaks.

Soft Meringue Cake

Place the meringue in the oven and cook for 15- 20 minutes by which time the meringue will have risen somewhat and slightly coloured.

Soft Meringue Cake

1. Strain the plums from any remaining syrup. Spread the whipped cream all over the meringue. If you wish you can pipe a ruff of stiffly whipped cream on the edge of the meringue to give a more formal appearance.

To Assemble The Dish

2. Strain the plums from any remaining syrup and carefully place on top of the cream. You could drizzle a little of the syrup over at this stage.

To Assemble The Dish

3. Garnish the dish with mint or edible sweet geranium leaves if available and perhaps the reserved star anise.

To Assemble The Dish

4. Serve immediately or keep chilled for an hour before serving. Bring the jelly to the table to serve with the meringue.

To Assemble The Dish

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