My beautiful grandmother, Dot, had a lovely tradition of always noting the name of the person who passed a recipe on to her.
I still have her old hand written recipe book with its solid wooden cover. It is full of recipes with lovely names like Chocolate Cake Rene and Aunty Nellie Lambert’s Rock Cakes, Muriel’s Caramel Marlow and Elsie T’s Coffee Crystal Biscuits as well as many of Dot’s own recipes.
Dot’s Pavlova is legendary.
This week’s delicious recipe was passed on to me by my friend Jenny Rix and so I have always called it Jenny’s Frozen Lemon Meringue Cake.
Recipes do evolve in new hands according to ingredient availability, fashion, personal taste etc. and I have indeed added my own personal touch to Jenny’s original recipe.
The cream and curd ‘icing’ and the meringues on top are my addition and can be happily omitted to reveal the meringue layers with the top simply dusted with icing sugar.
Dot’s Pavlova recipe has been passed on many, many times. It’s not at all evolved nor fashionable and it will always be Dot’s Pavlova to me.
Rosie
FROZEN LEMON MERINGUE CAKE
Serves 8-10
Start this recipe the day before
Meringue Disks
6 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons cornflour
225 gm caster sugar
Preheat oven to 150°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper onto which have been traced three 20cm diameter circles.
Whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until firm peaks form. Mix corn flour and sugar together and whisk, one tablespoon at a time, into the egg whites, whisking well after each addition. Whisk until thick and glossy.
Spread or pipe the meringue into the circles marked on the baking paper, smoothing out the edges. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 140°C. Bake for 1 hour or until the meringues are crisp to touch and will lift off the paper easily. Cool completely. Will keep for a few days if stored in a completely air tight container/plastic bags.
Lemon Filling
4 egg yolks
125 gm caster sugar
125 ml lemon juice, strained
300 ml thickened cream
Place egg yolks and sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and over a low heat, mix until smooth then add the lemon juice. Continue to stir constantly until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl. When cool, place in refrigerator until cold.
Whip thickened cream until very firm then, reserving three tablespoons of the lemon curd for the icing, gently fold the remaining cold lemon curd into the cream.
Place one meringue disk on a cake plate (freezer proof) and spread with half the lemon/cream mix. Top with another meringue disk and spread with remaining lemon/cream filling. Top with remaining meringue disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for several hours or overnight.
Icing
300 ml thickened cream
3 tablespoons reserved lemon curd
Whip the cream until very firm then fold in the reserved lemon curd. Spread over the top and sides of the frozen cake and return to the freezer until firm. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for another couple of hours.
The cake can be made to this point several days ahead.
Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before serving. Decorate with extra meringues if you fancy.