Christopher Thé of Sydney's BlackStar Pastry creates the ultimate party centrepiece - layers of light cake and cream cloaked in glossy meringue and topped with mango and flowers.
mango meringue birthday cake
(cover recipe)
You'll need a kitchen blowtorch for this recipe, available from kitchenware shops. Begin this recipe a day ahead.
600 mL thickened cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 mangoes, peeled, thinly sliced
225 g caster sugar
125 g eggwhite (about 4 eggwhites)
Unsprayed jasmine flowers*, halved blueberries and mint leaves, to serve
Almond dacquoise
175 g eggwhite (about 5 eggwhites)
100 g caster sugar
110 g natural almond meal*
110 g icing sugar, sifted
Cradle cake
75 g egg yolks (about 4 egg yolks)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup (165 mL) buttermilk
1 1/3 cups (200 g) plain flour, sifted
200 g caster sugar
1 tbs baking powder
115 g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups (105 g) shredded coconut
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease and line the base and sides of four 20cm springform cake pans with baking paper.
For the dacquoise, place eggwhite in an electric mixer with a pinch of salt. Whisk until foamy, then gradually add the caster sugar, a tablespoon at a time, whisking constantly until stiff and glossy. Sift the almond meal and icing sugar together in a bowl, then in 3 batches, gently fold into the meringue mixture.
Scoop one quarter of the dacquoise into a piping bag fitted with an 1cm plain nozzle. Starting in the centre of 1 cake pan, pipe in a spiral to completely cover the base of the pan. Using a small palette knife, spread the outer circle of dacquoise up the sides of the cake pan to create a 2cm border. Repeat with remaining dacquoise to fill each cake pan. Set aside.
For the cradle cake, place egg yolks, vanilla and 1/4 cup (60 mL) buttermilk in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. Place flour, sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt in an electric mixer and mix to combine. Add butter and beat until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add half of the egg yolk mixture and beat to combine. Add remaining egg yolk mixture and remaining 105mL buttermilk and beat until a smooth batter. Fold in coconut.
Scoop one-quarter of the cake batter into a clean piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle. Starting from the centre of 1 cake pan, pipe batter in a spiral to completely cover the dacquoise, ensuring the batter sits inside the 2cm border. Repeat with remaining batter to form 4 cakes. Bake for 50 minutes, rotating after 25 minutes to ensure even cooking, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in the pans.
In a clean, cold bowl, whisk 400mL cream with 1/2 tsp vanilla until stiff peaks form. Remove cooled cakes from pans and transfer 1 cake to a board or cake stand. Spread with one-fifth of the vanilla cream, then cover with one-third of the mango slices. Spread with another layer of vanilla cream, then invert one of the cakes to sit on top so the dacquoise layer is facing up. Gently press down to sandwich cakes together, smoothing any cream around the sides with a palette knife. Set aside and repeat this process with the other 2 cakes, vanilla cream and mango. Spread remaining vanilla cream on the top of one of the assembled cakes, then top with the other assembled cake to form 4 tiers. Gently press down again. Loosely cover and chill overnight.
The next day, place sugar and 75mL water in a pan over low heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, brushing down sides of pan with a damp pasty brush, for 6-8 minutes until 116°C (if you don't have a kitchen thermometer, 1/4 tsp sugar syrup dropped into iced water will form a soft ball). Whisk eggwhite in an electric mixer until soft peaks form. With the motor running, carefully pour hot syrup down the side of the bowl. Whisk for a further 20 minutes on medium speed until meringue is glossy and voluminous and bowl is cool to touch.
Transfer meringue to a piping bag fitted with a plain 1cm nozzle. Starting from the bottom, pipe the mixture around the cake to cover the sides. Alternatively, spread with a palette knife. Use a kitchen blowtorch to gently brown the meringue.
Whisk remaining 200mL cream and 1/2 tsp vanilla to stiff peaks. Spread on top of the cake, then decorate with jasmine, blueberries, mint and remaining mango.
* Edible jasmine (jasminum polyanthum) is from garden centres. Natural almond meal is ground almonds with skin on, available from health food shops; substitute regular almond meal.
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other recipes from Delicious magazine will be posted soon. (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)
