Easter Lemon Pavlova

I love spring.  It is possibly my favourite time of year (although autumn is a very close second).  I just love the sunshine without it being too hot; I like that most of the bugs are still asleep; that there are daffodils and tulips and crocuses everywhere; the colours; and that all my favourite Easter chocolates are available to buy!  It just makes me so happy.

Okay, so spring in Scotland isn't entirely like that.  This last week we had several days where it alternated between sunshine and hail every 30 minutes.  We even got snow the other day.  Not really what you would expect at the end of April.  Well, that's not true.  Did you know it has snowed more times on Easter Monday than on Christmas Day in the UK?  So if Easter had fallen this week we would be continuing that trend.  However, it fell early this year (which made for a more bearable spring term at school) towards the end of March.  It was a lovely week.  Lots of sunshine, although there was the occasional early April shower.

As is becoming a bit of a tradition, the mother-in-law hosted an Easter lunch (which was also a last-time-we-see-you-before-we-go-on-holiday-for-10-days meal - they went away, not us).  I was in charge of dessert!  I love that.  I knew I wanted something light and happy looking.  I wanted to steer clear of chocolate cake because that is heavy and dark and not really suited to spring.  I wanted spring colours and flavours!  Lemon is definitely a spring flavour in my mind.  Spring colour too.  My sister had suggested a lemon drizzle cake (because that's her favourite sort of cake) but I ended up finding something I liked better: lemon pavlova.  It looked fancy, would be sweet and tangy and would be light...if I could do it.

Those of you that have stuck with this blog the last few years know that meringue is one of my nemeses when it comes to baking (ganache being the other).  I understand the principle of how it goes together and the cooking process but it has so often gone wrong.  I have been trying to practise it more.  Lack of this on the blog shows it is generally not very successful, though it is getting better.  I think I've got a handle on both Swiss and Italian meringue by now.  It's just been the French kind that still gives me trouble.  But I am nothing if not persistent.  I was going to give it a shot.  It was Mary Berry after all and there was a good chance she would not lead me astray.

And for the most part, this is true.  My meringue actually turned out really well.  It tasted AMAZING (sorry but I am going to boast about that because I don't get to say that about meringue too often).  It was crisp on the outside but so so soft and fluffy inside.  Dare I say, it was perfect?  The only thing that went wrong is that I broke a little bit of it when I was trying to see if it would come away from the paper (you can see the slightly collapsed side in the picture above).  I was beyond pleased.  Unfortunately, it does not mean I have finally mastered the elusive meringue.  Last week I tried making a meringue roulade and it collapsed on me, having clearly been undercooked and tasted like eggs. Bleh!

High off my successful meringue, I was hopeful going into the filling.  However, my luck started to run out here.  I ended up attempting it twice, and twice it did not turn out quite right.  For some reason, this lemon curd recipe would not thicken for me and I ended up with an awful lot.  And when I added it to my cream, everything just turned to liquid.  I tried firming it up in the fridge but to no avail.  In the end, I used what I had.  The meringue was reasonably well sealed so most of the filling stayed in.  It did set after an hour or so.  And it tasted great!  I was left with a fair bit of it though.  However, I realised it didn't need to go to waste as it was basically a custard ice cream mix so I threw it in the ice cream maker and the the Hubby has been happily devouring it since.

So despite a few hiccups, this turned out really well.  And it is DELICIOUS.  As I said, the meringue is crispy on the outside but beautifully soft inside.  The tangy lemon balances the sweet meringue perfectly and it is so easy to eat.  There were 5 of us at the meal and we ate the whole thing.  Yum yum!

Recipe - adapted from Mary Berry via BBC Food

Candied Lemon Peel

• 100g/3.5oz caster sugar, plus extra for covering
• Zest of 4 lemons cut into long strips

Meringue:

• 6 egg whites
• 350g/12oz caster sugar
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tsp cornflour

Lemon Curd Filling:

• 6 egg yolks
• 350g/12oz caster sugar
• Juice of 4 lemons
• 225g/8oz butter
• 450ml/0.75pints double cream

•  24 chocolate mini eggs

1. Make the candied peel first as it needs time to set.  Put 100ml/3.5fl.oz of water into a saucepan along with the caster sugar.
2. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. 
3. Add the strips of lemon zest to the pan and simmer for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture turns syrupy.
4. Drain the lemon zest and then lay out on a tray that has been lined with parchment and then coat in more sugar.  Leave to dry in a warm place for a couple of hours.
5. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3, lay a piece of baking parchment on a tray and draw a 25cm/10inch circle on it.
6. Put the egg whites into the bowl and whisk on the highest speed of a hand whisk or stand mixer until they are stiff.  Then add generous teaspoons of sugar until the mixture is stiff, shiny and stands in peaks.
7. Mix the vinegar and cornflour together until smooth and then stir it into the meringue.
8. Spread half of the mixture inside the circle you drew on the paper.  Put the rest in a piping bag fitted with a rose nozzle and pipe 8 nests around the edge of the circle.  Make sure there are no gaps in between or the filling could leak out later.
9. Put the meringue in the oven and turn down the heat to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2.  Bake for 1.5-2 hours, or until the meringue comes easily away from the paper.  It will be a pale creamy colour and may crack a bit but don't worry.
10. Turn the oven off but leave the meringue inside to get cold.
11.  Meanwhile, make the lemon curd by putting the egg yolks, lemon juice and sugar into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and whisking.
12. Gradually add the butter, still whisking, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Remove from the heat and leave to cool (It will thicken more as it cools).
13.  Whisk the double cream into soft peaks then swirl the cooled lemon curd through it. (Try not to overmix it or it will turn runny).
14. Spoon the filling into the base of the meringue and into each of the meringue nests. (If you end up with more filling than you need, you can put the rest into an ice cream maker to make lemon ice cream).
15. Decorate by putting 3 mini eggs in each nest and then sprinkling the candied lemon on top.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

As always, dear readers, the best laid plans go to waste.  I was determined to have a post every week to go along with baking something each week.  I don't know what happened this month.  I was worn out, sure but mainly I was a bit uninspired.  I bake better when I have a purpose.  Otherwise I just default to my faves.  No good for the blog though.  This bake came about during my first week of having no definite goal in mind.  I just wanted to make something.  The Hubby requested cake of some kind.  I did intend to just make use of things in my cupboard, but that got scrapped because I wanted to make something with lemons, meaning I had to go out and buy them.

I decided to make my own lemon curd, since I figured it was a good way to use the yolks from the eggs that were for the meringue.  I ended up with way more than I needed, even after halving the recipe so I've halved it again in the write-up. I also didn't read the whole recipe in the book and so ended up adding my lemon curd at a different time from the original.

There's not much more to say really.  The Hubby enjoyed them.  A subtle lemon sponge with a sharp burst of lemon curd in the middle, which cuts through the sweetness of the meringue.  A successful and delicious little bake. 

Recipe - makes 8


Lemon Curd Recipe - adapted from BBC Food

• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 50g/1.75oz caster sugar
• 25g/1oz butter
• 1 egg yolk

1. Put the zest, juice, sugar and butter into a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of gently simmering water.  Stir the mixture every once in a while until the butter has melted.
2. Lightly whisk the egg yolk and then stir into the lemon mixture.  Whisk until combined then allow to cook for 10-13 minutes.  Stir occasionally until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
3. Remove from heat and set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.  Once cooled, cover and keep in the fridge until cakes are ready.

Cakes - adapted from Cupcake Heaven:

• 115/4oz butter
• 100g/3.5oz caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 115g/4oz self-raising flour
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons lemon curd

Meringue:

• 150g/5.5oz caster sugar
• 2 egg whites

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and line a 12 hole muffin tin with 8 cupcake cases.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and creamy.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
4. Sift in the flour and fold in before stirring in the lemon zest and juice.
5. Distribute the mixture evenly between the cases and then bake in the oven for about 17 minutes, or until the cakes are risen and springy.
6. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
7. Use an apple corer pushed 3/4 of the way through each cake to remove the centre, reserving part of the top of each.
8. Fill each core with lemon curd then replace the tops. 
9. Make the meringue by putting the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water.
10. Whisk the ingredients together continuously for about 5 minutes until it becomes thick, glossy and stands in peaks.
11. Put the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.  Pipe swirls of meringue on top of each cake and then leave to set.  For soft meringue, leave for about 30 minutes.  For firmer meringue, leave for at least 3 hours.

Lemon and Blueberry Syrup Loaf

 

 
So my attention has been rather monopolised these past few weeks.  At the start of August the Hubby and I welcomed two new additions to our home.  We are now the proud owners of two gorgeous Siberian kittens.  We have been waiting for them since January so were very excited when we were finally able to go and collect them from Liverpool.  It involved six hours of trains either way but it was worth it.  They are just the most beautiful creatures ever, as well as the cuddliest.  They love to curl up with you on the sofa and it is wonderful.  They make me so happy.  They are also very distracting.  That's not to say they have stopped me baking.  It's more that they stop me updating the blog.  Trying to do food photography in a small flat with two curious kittens is quite tricky.  As is trying to type anything as they want to sit on either you or the keyboard.  There's also not been a huge amount of new innovation in terms of what I have baked.  I've been doing a lot of favourites recently, so there's not been anything new.

Until the Hubby's birthday!  I always aim to do a new recipe for that, though it often involves similar flavour combinations.  This year was no different, as I was asked for the usual mix of lemon and blueberries.  I decided I wanted to do a take on a lemon drizzle cake.  The one the recipe is based off is a Nigella recipe, which was just lemon.  The idea of the syrupy 'icing' made it sound a bit more decadent than a normal drizzle cake and so I adapted it to my needs.

The first version I did of this cake was for the Hubby's birthday and it was not a loaf cake.  The Hubby wanted a round cake so I made it in an 8inch tin circular tin instead.  I personally did not like how it looked because it felt a bit flat.  I feel a round cake needs layers.  I much prefer the loaf look.  Since I didn't photograph it first time due to time issues, I decided to do it loaf shaped for the second version.  I also altered the recipe slightly by adding a little more flour and a little less milk.  The blueberries sank in the first one because the batter was too runny.  I wanted a thicker batter for the second one.  It worked much better.  I also used much bigger lemons and added more zest to get a much more distinct lemon-y flavour.  The second one was definitely much better overall.  Even the texture was nicer, though maybe that was down to my recent acquisition that I purchased with my birthday money: my very own KitchenAid Artisan mixer.  Yellow, of course.

The cake was very well received.  The Hubby was really happy.  He prefers the round one but everyone else liked the loaf better.  The syrup and berries make it a very juicy cake but not too wet.  It was delicious.  It goes really well with ice cream and strawberries too.

Recipe - inspired by How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Makes 1 x 1kg/2lb loaf

Cake:

• 175g/6oz caster sugar 
• 125g/4.5oz butter
• Zest of 2 large lemons
• 2 large eggs
• 175g/6oz self-raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp milk
• 115g/4oz blueberries

Syrup:

• 155g/5.5oz icing sugar
• Juice of 2 large lemons
• 85g/3oz blueberries

1. Grease and line a 1kg/2lb loaf tin.  Cut the greaseproof paper so it hangs over the edge to make it easier to remove the cake after baking.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
3. In a large bowl beat together the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Mix in the lemon zest.
5. Add the eggs and beat well.
6. Gently fold in the flour, followed by the milk and finally the blueberries.
7. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and smooth top.
8. Bake for about 45-55 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Whilst cake is baking, make the syrup by combining the icing sugar, lemon juice and blueberries in a saucepan and cooking over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
10. Squash the blueberries within the pan to release the juice into the syrup and stir.
11. Switch off the heat and leave syrup to thicken slightly.  Just before removing cake from oven, strain the syrup through a sieve into a jug to remove the berry skins.
12. When cake is baked, remove from the oven, but leave in the tin, and quickly poke holes all over it with a skewer.
13. Pour the syrup over the cake.  Aim to get syrup to absorb in the centre of the cake and not just the edges.  Keep adding syrup, even if you think you are drowning the cake.  As long as it doesn't overflow the tin it is fine.
14. Leave the cake in the tin until it has absorbed all the syrup and has gone cold before removing it from the tin.  If you can stand to wait, wrap the cake up and leave it overnight to get a more intense syrup flavour.

Lemon Blueberry Doughnuts with White Chocolate Drizzle

This is a bake from a while back: Valentine's Day to be exact.  Being swamped with work was not going to stop me from baking something sweet for my Hubby.  Plus we had a mini holiday that weekend.  Sadly, no time to blog back then but I did grab some snaps in the hopes I would get around to it (and not just because I wanted to play with my new camera).  5 months later isn't too bad...right? 

Anyway, if you've been following this blog a while, you'll know by now that the Hubby loves lemon and blueberry as a flavour combination so I usually incorporate it into bakes meant for him.  And, as usual, I wanted to try something new.  So I went with doughnuts.  The Hubby does like doughnuts, though he prefers the jam filled kind to the glazed sort.  Baking fruit into doughnuts is a bit like filling with jam...Okay, one day I will do proper jam filled doughnuts for him. I need more excuses to use my doughnut pan.  Though I will need to get a syringe somewhere down the line.  Better add that to the birthday wishlist.

There's not much to say about the recipe.  It was pretty simple to do.  The batter is quite thick so getting a smooth finish in the tin was a little tricky.  The other problem I had was getting the doughnuts out the tin again after baking because some of the blueberries would adhere to it.   Letting it cool a little helped with that one.

I did decide to change the finish on the doughnuts.  The original recipe uses a lemon sugar.  That would likely have gone down well too but I wanted to fancy it up a little more.  And if there is anything that makes the lemon and blueberry combination even better, it's white chocolate.  So a white chocolate drizzle was the way I decided to go.  The sprinkles were a bonus.  I found some interesting new sprinkles by Dr Oetker when doing my grocery shopping online and decided to buy a couple.  Amongst my choices were lemon meringue sprinkles.  I decided they would be the perfect finish to add a little extra flare to the doughnuts, as well as a bit of crunch.

The Hubby very much enjoyed these doughnuts and did eat all 10 by himself.  I was very happy.

Recipe - adapted from Spark Recipes

Makes 10 doughnuts

Doughnuts:

• 100g/3.5oz white whole wheat flour
• 100g/3.5oz plain flour
• 75g/2.5oz granulated sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 125ml/4.5fl.oz plain yoghurt
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp lemon juice 
• 200g/7oz fresh blueberries

Topping:

• 100g/3.5oz white chocolate
• Dr Oetker Lemon Meringue Sprinkles or other sprinkle type decoration (optional) 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/375°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease a doughnut pan with butter or cooking spray.  Wash and dry the blueberries.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients for the doughnuts in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients except the blueberries.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir in until just combined.
5. Gently fold in the blueberries.
6. Put 2 tablespoons of batter into each doughnut form in the tin and smooth out.
7. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.  Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.  
8. When doughnuts have cooled, melt the white chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water.
9. Drizzle the chocolate over doughnuts and sprinkle on chosen decoration.  Leave to set.