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Phoenix is known for its scorching hot summers, but this summer has been especially blistering.  When it gets this toasty. I don’t like to use the oven…at all. Instead, I try to make cool summer salads and entrees in the slow cooker, anything to keep the temperature down in the house.

My family still likes to eat dessert, so to avoid the oven, I try to look beyond traditional cake and cookies.  This Swedish Meringue Cake, made with organic eggs, is baked in the oven, but the oven is only turned on for 15 minutes.  When finished, it becomes a light and airy dessert filled with fresh summer berries and fresh whipped cream.

 

 

Swedish Meringue Cake with Fresh Berries

I got this Swedish Meringue Cake recipe a few years ago from a family friend, Zazza, who grew up in Sweden.  Known in Sweden as Marang Torta, this has a sponge cake with a fluffy meringue top, which is sliced in half and filled with whipped cream and berries.  The perfect summer dessert!

Sponge Cake Layer

• 1 Stick of Butter (1/2 c.)
• ½ c. Caster (Bakers) Sugar
• 3 Handsome Brook Farm Egg Yolks
• ¾ c. Flour
• 2 tsp. Baking Powder
• ½ c. Milk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Grab a muffin tin and butter the inside of each tin generously.  Set aside.  Cream the butter and sugar together, then slowly blend in the egg yolks.

Add the baking powder and ¼ c. of the flour, blend together, then slowly fold in the remaining ½ cup of flour.  Add the milk and whisk the batter together until well blended.  Using a tablespoon, scoop about 2 tablespoons of batter into each muffin cup.  Set aside.

Meringue

• 3 Handsome Brook Farm Egg Whites
• Pinch of Cream of Tartar
• 1 c. Caster (Bakers) Sugar

Place the egg whites and cream of tartar into a large bowl.  Using an electric mixer, slowly start to whip the egg whites together (on a lower setting) and gradually increase the speed of the electric mixer to high.  Whip the whites until they form soft peaks.  Add the sugar and continue beating until the soft peaks are glossy and stiff and stay in place when the beater is stopped.

You can either put the stiffened egg whites into a pastry bag to create pretty designs on the sponge cake batter or use a tablespoon and scoop about 2 tablespoons of meringue over the top of the sponge cake batter in each muffin cup.  Place the muffin tray in the oven and bake 15 minutes, then turn the oven off and let the cake sit for about two hours.  Remove from the oven and let cool.

Filling

• 1 c. Heavy Whipping Cream
• 2 Tbsp Confectioners’ Sugar
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• Fresh Strawberries
• Fresh Blueberries

Whip the cream with the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla until stiff.  Wash and hull the strawberries and wash and dry the blueberries.  Set aside.  Carefully remove each meringue cake from the muffin tray and slice in half.  Scoop a dollop of whipped cream onto the bottom half of each meringue cake add some berries, and then place the meringue top on the cake.  Serve immediately.

A few baking notes:

Za-Za’s original recipe for Swedish Meringue Cake is made as a large cake, not individual cupcakes.  If you prefer to make this as a large cake, place parchment paper on a baking sheet, divide the sponge cake batter into two large rounds on the baking sheet, and top those rounds with the meringue before baking, then bake as above.

Meringue can be tricky to make.  Make certain the bowl you use to whip the egg whites is clean and dry and that you do not have even a drop of egg yolk in the whites.  The first time I made meringue, I had a tiny bit of egg yolk in the batter and I could have whipped those egg whites for 10 hours straight and they never would have stiffened. Take your time cracking and dividing the whites from the yolks.

My oven runs a little hot, so the meringues came out a little more “golden” than I anticipated.  If your oven runs hot too, start the baking at 300 degrees instead of 325 degrees, but still turn the oven off at 15 minutes.

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