meringue

Blueberry Angel Food Cake

May 24, 2018

Angel food cake was my go-to dessert in college. Mainly because it was a tad healthier than your average cake, but also because the boxed cake mix made it easy to make at home.

Angel food cake has a reputation for being difficult to make from scratch. But I’m here to tell you, it’s really not! It definitely took me a while to build up the courage to ditch the boxed mix and make it from scratch, but once I did I realized it really isn’t so bad.

Plus, when you make it from scratch at home you can play around with the recipe and make it your own! Like adding in blueberries!

Well, freeze dried blueberries.

Which make a super delicious and subtly flavored blueberry angel food cake.

How to Make It

First things first. Process the blueberries until they form a fine powder. You can do this by processing them in a food processor or by tossing them in a zip-top bag and giving them a good wack.

Next, sift all the dry ingredients together. It’s super important to sift everything because you want it to be as light as possible.

Then start making the meringue which is the foundation of the cake.

Slowly start beating the egg whites until a little bit of foam forms, then add the cream of tartar and lemon juice.

After a little more foam builds, add in about a third of the sugar. Beat for another 30 seconds or so and add a little more sugar. Finally, when the egg whites are almost done, add in the rest of the sugar.

The meringue should be in medium stiff peak form, meaning it can form a peak, but the tips fall over.

Now slowly fold the dry ingredients into the meringue a little at a time. Try not to deflate the meringue.

Spoon the batter into your cake pan, or in my case, a mini cake pan, then bake until a toothpick comes out clean. It takes about 15-20 for the small pan and 30-35 for a standard pan.

Once out of the oven, let the cake cool upside down over a cooling rack or balanced on a wine bottle. This helps ensure that your cake doesn’t deflate and lose all that beautiful air you worked so hard to incorporate into the cake.

If all of those things are done well, you should have yourself a beautiful, light, airy, and delicious blueberry angel food cake! Perfect for any occasion, or just to make for yourself.

You definitely don’t have to worry about the guilt with this recipe. It is about as “light” as any cake can be! Plus, it probably packs a full serving of fruit thanks to those freeze-dried blueberries.

Tools and Recipe

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Sweet Potato Meringue Pie

November 16, 2017

Sweet potato pie is one of those Thanksgiving traditions I was completely oblivious to until I moved to the South. The extent of my knowledge of sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving started and ended with sweet potato casserole. You know, that super sweet “casserole” that is topped with loads of marshmallows and somehow always gets served as a side dish and not as a dessert. Yeah, I never quite understood sweet potato casserole.

I totally understand sweet potato pie! If you are going to dress sweet potatoes up with sugar and butter, call it what it is! Dessert! Put it in a pie crust and call it a pie. It’s delicious. And, if you just can’t seem to get on board with sweet potatoes without the marshmallows, I’ve got you covered! Just top that baby off with a healthy meringue topping that is just as good (dare I say, better?) than a marshmallow topping.

It’s the best of both worlds!

Here’s how I made it:

Starting with the pie crust, I rolled out my favorite pie dough and transferred it to my pie dish.

Then I covered the pie dough with tin foil and filled it with pie weights to partially bake (par-bake).

Note: I was a little hasty in par-baking the crust and didn’t freeze it beforehand so it ended up shrinking. To prevent shrinkage (hold the jokes), freeze the pie dough in the pie dish before placing it in the oven.

While the pie crust baked, I microwaved the sweet potatoes until they were completely soft and I could easily spoon the potato away from the skin.

I added the sweet potatoes, along with sugar and butter in a large bowl and gave it a good whisk until it was smooth. Then I added the egg, egg yolks, cream, vanilla, and spices and gave it another good mix until it was completely smooth. Then all of that got poured into the par-baked pie crust.

Custard pies can be a little tricky to know when they are completely done baking. The pie should still have a little wiggle in the middle, but the top should be totally dry and the pie closest to the crust should be set.

Once the pie reached that point, I removed it from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. It will continue to set as it sits out and cools.

I used the waiting time to clean up and make my meringue. I used the French method, which I describe in detail in this buttercream post. Once the meringue formed semi-stiff peaks, I just dumped it right onto the pie.

You can spread your meringue out however you like. I wanted it to look a little spiky so first spread the meringue our across the pie, then used the spatula to form little peaks across the top by pulling the spatula up in short quick motions.

Finally, I placed the pie back in the oven under the broiler to caramelize the meringue. You could also use a kitchen torch if you wanted to have more control over your caramelization.

But, you know, I like to live life on the edge sometimes. I just stick my pie under the broiler and wait to see what happens.

I loved cutting into this and seeing that meringue piled high on top. The meringue may be my favorite part of this pie!

Meringue is just so perfect on top of a dense custard pie like sweet potato pie. That super soft meringue just balances everything else out. It’s like a lighter version of a whipped cream topping. It provides a little extra sweetness, but not nearly as much as a marshmallow topping would, and helps cut through the richness of the pie itself.

Have I convinced you to make this for Thanksgiving? Well, I certainly convinced myself!
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Heart Shaped Macarons (Italian Meringue Method)

February 3, 2017

Did you know there is more than one method for making macarons!? Up until very recently, I had no idea! Apparently there are several methods. The one that I have posted about before, the French method, is the traditional method. But there is also an Italian meringue method and a small batch method (more on this later).

Even though I have had more success with the Laduree macaron recipe, they can still be hit or miss. Which is why I have been eager to try the Italian method for my Valentine’s Day-themed heart shaped macarons!

The ingredients for the Italian method are largely the same as the French: almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, egg whites, and granulated sugar. This method requires making a sugar syrup with the granulated sugar and a bit of water.

First, I sifted together the almond meal and the confectioners sugar.

Then, instead of whisking all of the egg whites into a meringue, I mixed half of the egg whites into the almond/sugar mixture to create an almond paste.

Which also seemed like a good time to add in some food coloring.

The next big difference to this recipe is meringue. With the French method, you just whip up the meringue with a bit of granulated sugar. The problem is that this meringue is very fragile and if you over or under mix the batter, you can completely ruin the cookie.

For the Italian method, you an Italian meringue by drizzling a hot sugar syrup into egg whites that were already been whisked into soft peeks.

Once my meringue was back to room temperature, I mixed it into the almond paste. I was very skeptical that my macarons would turn out okay considering how much I had to mix the batter. It will feel like you killing the meringue, but since it’s an Italian meringue, it was much sturdier and held up to the mixing.

I knew the batter was completely mixed when I had no more lumps of the almond paste and the batter just fell off the back of my spatula in a steady ribbon.

And since these macarons are for Valentine’s Day, of course I had to make them into hearts! I outlined a heart shape onto the back of the parchment paper, then used that as a guide to pipe my macarons. I basically pipped a ‘V’ shape, putting more pressure on the piping at the top of the ‘V’, and less at the point. I also used a toothpick to help fill in the shape and make the point even pointier.

I also wanted to add a little something extra to these macarons, so I spattered them with some edible gold paint. It’s one of my favorite decorating techniques because all I do is dip the brush in the paint and shake it over the cookies. No skill required!

When it comes to filling, macarons can be filled with really anything. I love filling them with Nutella or chocolate ganache. But since this if Valentine’s Day, I decided to go with a raspberry cheesecake filling! Which is essentially my cream cheese frosting and a dollop of raspberry preserves.

I will say, I am a big fan of this method. It worked out wonderfully and every macaron came out perfectly! That may seem like I have low expectations, and that’s because I do.

If you have ever tried making macarons at home, you know that sometimes they work, sometimes, they don’t. And sometimes the first macarons piped out turn out fine, while the ones at the end do not. So yes, I value consistency when it comes to my macaron recipes!

My only gripe is that it takes significantly more time and is a bit more cumbersome than the already cumbersome French method. If you plan on making lots of macarons, this is the method for you!

And at the very least, you will have some very delicious macaons to reward you for all your extra effort!

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