Delicious cake, very light, airy, based on meringue cakes with a crispy cap. Meringue cakes are cakes consisting of whipped whites with sugar, such a cake is used in the Pavlov’s cake, for example, the cake is very tender, airy, almost weightless. I intentionally do not call these cakes meringue, although they are often called that, because the word meringue makes everyone think of cakes like that, completely dry and crispy, but meringue cakes are not like that, they stay soft inside, and only the cap is crispy like meringue cakes. I layered these wonderful cakes with a cream of whipped cream, lemon curd and a little cottage cheese. The cottage cheese is needed to make the cream a little thicker and more stable (so it doesn’t drip off the cakes). Mascarpone is also great for this purpose, but I realize that it is not available to everyone, both in terms of availability and price (also, instead of adding cottage cheese, you can also try using a thickener when whipping the cream).
Ingredients:
6 whites.
250g powdered sugar
1 tbsp. natural vinegar 6% (or lemon juice)
1 tbsp. corn starch (no slice)
pinch of salt
Cream:
300 g cream of 30-36%.
70g of soft and light cottage cheese (or mascarpone)
70 ml lemon juice + zest (1 lemon)
70g sugar
30g butter
3 egg yolks
How to make the meringue cake with lemon cream
Make the cake. Separate egg whites from the yolks.
Start gradually beating them to an airy froth, then gradually add powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks appear. In the middle of beating add salt and vinegar. The mixture should be glossy, shiny and thick. I whipped for 12 minutes, but the time can vary a lot depending on the type of mixer and its power, you may need more time, up to 20-25 minutes. At the end of the whipping, add the starch.
Start gradually whisking them in.
Line two baking trays with baking paper, on the back of the first one draw two 20cm circles and on the second one 1 20cm circle (it’s easiest to trace a suitable plate). In total we will have three cakes. If you do not have a second baking tray or you are not sure about your oven, it is better to bake 2 cakes on one tray only (that is, divide the whole whipped mass into two cakes). Put a third of the mass on each circle and flatten with a spatula.
Line two baking trays with baking paper.
Place in a preheated oven to 130 degrees, bake for about 1-2 hours. I dried almost 2 hours, changing the baking trays in the middle of baking places. But you are guided strictly by your oven. The cakes turn out a light beige color, and when tapped, crispy. Cool the finished cakes completely.
Place in a pre-cooker.
Prepare the lemon curd. Remove zest from lemon by grating on a fine grater (without affecting the white layer).
Squeeze the juice from the lemon itself (I got 70 ml). Mix the lemon zest, juice, yolks and sugar. Leave it to stand for 10-20 minutes to infuse the zest with its aroma.
Strain through a strainer into a small saucepan with a thick bottom and place on the fire.
When mixture is hot add butter. Stirring all the time, continue cooking until it thickens.
When the mass is hot add the butter and oil.
The mass may boil actively (it is clearly visible in the photo), but the eggs will not curdle, thanks to the fact that it contains a lot of acid. Ready kurd completely cool.
Set aside 1-2 tablespoons of curd in a small, thick bag, tie and cut off a very small corner.
1-2 tablespoons of kurd.
Prepare the cream. Lemon curd together with cottage cheese should be thoroughly beaten with a blender. Let me remind you, the cottage cheese here is suitable only homogeneous, pasty and not sour. Or you need to use mascarpone, or whip the cream with cream consolidator.
Make the cream. Lemon Curd
Whip the cream until it reaches a soft peaks.
Add the lemon cream, mix thoroughly with a spatula. My cream is pretty thick.
assemble the cake. Put the first cake on a plate. Put half of the custard on top and pour a little bit of the kurd from the bag.
Put the second cake and remaining cream, pour out the kurd. Cover with the last cake (don’t cream it!), pour the kurdnotes.
Spread out the second cake,
Side view. The cake is better to serve almost immediately, it does not need to soak.
When slicing, the cap of the top cake cracks, this is absolutely normal. The meringue cake with lemon curd turns out insanely tender, soft, has a nice sour-sweet hint in the flavor and a great crispy meringue cap. Very tasty!