Kitchen Experiment: Esterhazy Torta, a First Attempt

Happy 2019, everyone! I hope that 2018 treated you well, and that 2019 will be even better to you. And for my first offering of 2019, I present to you a little kitchen experiment: Esterhazy Torta!

I thought I'd kick off the year with someone I've been wanting to try ever since I did the Doboš Torte in 2017. Decadent confections of Central Europe hold a lot of fascination for me, and this delight from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire is quite an unusual treat. A good start to what I hope is a year of shameless experimentation.

2018 was my least prolific year on this blog since 2016, which makes sense as 2017 was the most prolific year of my blog ever. I suppose I used up all my ideas in 2017! And this year had a punishingly long hot summer, which curbed the baking output somewhat. But I have a lot of good plans for this year, including more videos (I got a nice bit of practise in last year, and learnt from a multitude of mistakes) and designing a cookery book for my own personal entertainment. Who knows, I might release it some day.

But in my own real life outside of the blog, I already know that 2019 will bring at least two wonderful things to my family. Firstly, I'm getting married in June to my best friend and the love of my life, which will be the best thing to happen to me in my life so far. And secondly, I will be an aunt! My oldest brother's daughter is due at the end of April, or the beginning of May, and she will be born in Cavan, where my brother and his wife will be living from February onward.

Once the Christmas feasting is over and forgotten about, I will start on my wedding cake trials. I will try a cupcake wedding cake, and a traditional tiered cake.

But, back to the cake!

Esterhazy Torta is a dacquoise cake, which is basically a fancy French term for a layered cake made from nutty meringues, sort of like macaroons. Dacquoise cakes can be layered with all sorts of things, like creme patissiere, whipped cream, melted chocolate, or buttercream. This cake is made of delicate walnut dacquoise layers, sandwiched with vanilla and amaretto flavoured French buttercream, which is a style of buttercream that uses an egg yolk custard. It's very, very similar to Ermine buttercream, like in my red velvet cake.

Having made this cake, I can assure you it's absolutely not my thing at all. It sounded great on paper, but in reality it was far too rich and sickly. Nuts, vanilla, eggs, butter, and amaretto together is just unrelentingly sweet. If you like sugarbombs, then this is for you.

How I Made this Cake

To make the dacquoise layers, I made a simple French meringue with one egg white and one ounce (30 grammes) caster sugar. I folded in an ounce of ground walnuts, which had been lightly toasted in a dry frying pan. I divided the mixture in four (although, in retrospect, in three would have got nicer, thicker layers) and spread it out thinly into four 4 inch circles. I baked them at 180C for 6 minutes.

To make the buttercream, I gently cooked the egg yolk, an ounce of sugar, and an ounce of milk in a heatproof bowl over simmering water until I had a nice, thick custard. I allowed this to cool completely before whipping in two ounces of room temperature butter to make an icing.

To assemble, I brushed the cake layers with amaretto, and layered the cake and iced the outside. I packed chopped walnuts onto the sides, and feathered the top with some dark chocolate.

How I Would Do This Cake Differently in Future

I think in future to take the edge off the sweetness, I would use some cream cheese in the icing to add a note of tanginess. I would also use dark rum in place of amaretto, which has a much harsher quality. I would also make the dacquoise layers thicker and the icing layers thinner, more like a glue to hold it together. I would also use a traditional glacé icing topping, maybe made with a little lemon juice, to balance the sickliness with some more tang.

Keep your eyes peeled for further experiments!

Frohe Weihnachten! Part 3: Meringue Jam Rings (Butterplӓtzchen mit Baiserringen)

Frohe Weihnachten! I present to you the third part in a series on German-style Christmas biscuits: buttery biscuits, with a delicious filled meringue rings!

I came across this idea when I was surfing the web for different kinds of biscuits. I saw one small picture of these in a sea of Google images. As such, I couldn't really find a good reliable recipe, not even on any German websites (yes; I speak a little German). So, I kinda had to wing it: I added a little more sugar than usual to a basic meringue mixture to get it to crisp faster in the oven, and surprisingly it actually worked.

Sweet and buttery almond-hinted biscuits, crowned with a ring of vanilla meringue, and filled with a variety of jam, lemon curd, chocolate and caramel. What's not to like? Even people who don't really like meringue, including my fiancé, have admitted to liking these when I have fed them with the promise of "I swear it doesn't taste like meringue!" The lemon ones are particularly nice, because it's like single serving of lemon meringue pie.

DIFFICULTY

Intermediate: has a few fiddly steps

INGREDIMENTS

Makes 12 biscuits

For biscuit dough

2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar

2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, at room temperature

1 medium egg yolk

4 ounces (115 grammes) plain white flour: spelt, wheat, gluten-free

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

A few drops of almond essence

A pinch of salt

For meringue rings

1 medium egg white

3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar

A few drops of lemon juice

A pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Fillings of your choice: fruit jam, lemon curd, caramel, chocolate ganache, vanilla custard, frangipane etc.

METHOD

First, make the biscuits

• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk and essences until fully incorporated.
• Sieve in the flour and salt and mix in by hand or with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together. It will be slightly dry, but don't worry: that's what gives them such a delicate, sandy texture.
• Flatten into a disc and wrap in cling film, and chill for half an hour, until it's firm to the touch.
• Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas Mk.2). Line one or two flat baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
• On a floured work surface, roll the pastry to just under a quarter-inch (about 4 millimetres) thick and cut out 3-inch (7.5 centimetre) rounds, re-rolling the scraps. You should get about 12 biscuits.
• Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 10 minutes, turning the trays halfway through. The biscuits should just be starting to turn golden around the edges.
• Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before starting the meringues.

To make the meringues

• Lower the oven temperature to 100°C (210°F, Gas Mk.½).
• In a heat proof bowl over a pan of hot water, stir the egg white, sugar, salt, and lemon juice until the sugar has completely dissolved and the mixture is warm to the touch.
• Remove from the heat and whip on high speed with an electric mixer to make a meringue which holds stiff peaks and is cool to the touch. Beat in the vanilla essence
• Fit a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle and pipe a ring of meringue on the top of every biscuit. Place back on the baking tray and bake for 1 hour on the centre shelf.
• Halfway through cooking, fill the centres with half a teaspoon of filling (except for chocolate ganache, which should be added after cooking, and never cooked in the oven). This will help the filling set a little.
• Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

STORAGE

Store in an airtight container at room temperature, or in the fridge, for up to a week.

Buon Natale! Orange Amaretti: Italian Almond Macaroons (Gluten- and Dairy Free)

And thus, our Advent-ure (get it?) around Central Europe will begin with a trip to Italy! Here is my take on a simple Italian seasonal treat: amaretti, with a hint of orange!

Essentially, an amaretto is an almond macaroon and a lot of Central European countries have a version of nut macaroons and coconut macaroons. In Germany, there are kokosmakronen (coconut), mandelmakronen (almond), and haselnussmakronen (hazelnut); in France, you have the iconic macarons, which are much more delicate and technical than its cousins in other countries; and in Hungary, there are kókuszcsók (coconut). Here in Ireland, coconut macaroons are definitely more popular than the almond variety.

Making amaretti doesn't really need a recipe, as it's just a combination of egg whites, sugar, and almonds. To make them, simply make a stiff meringue with 3 ounces (85 grammes) of caster sugar for each medium (US large) egg white. Add in orange zest and almond essence to taste, and enough orange food colouring gel to get a nice pastel shade, and then fold in 3 ounces (85 grammes) of ground almonds for each egg white.

Fit a disposable piping bag with a half-inch (1 centimetre) round nozzle, and fill the bag with the mixture. Pipe the biscuits onto non-stick paper lined baking sheets, making each biscuit into a mound about an inch or so tall and wide.

Bake in an oven preheated to 150°C (300°F, Gas Mk.2) for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the biscuits are crisp and dry to the touch. Allow to cool slightly on the trays before gently peeling off and tranferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with a little icing sugar to serve.

These keep very well in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Happeee Birthdaeee, Mumeee!: Lemon Meringue Layer Cake

Happy birthday, Mummy! To celebrate the occasion, I made her her favourite dessert in cake form: lemon meringue layer cake!

I think as long as I have done this blog and beyond, Mum has wanted a lemon or an orange cake for her birthday. In fact, my Mum loves anything citrusy and zesty: she loves lemon yoghurt, lemon meringue tart, lemon sorbet, lemonade, the list is endless.

So this year, I thought I'd do a mash up of a birthday cake and a lemon meringue tart. I'd researched on Pinterest for a few weeks, but I could find no-one who had put a meringue layer in their cake. Even when I shared pictures of this cake into one of the baking groups I'm a member of on Facebook, a few people commented that they'd never seen a meringue layer in a cake before.

I'm aware in Australia and New Zealand covering cakes in meringue is a thing, but nobody does it here. I'm glad to do something new and unusual!

With further ado, let's get to the recipe.

INGREDIMENTS

For the cake,

• One deep 8 inch (20 centimetres) round vanilla cake, dome cut off and cut into two layers
• Up to 1 pound (455 grammes) lemon curd, shopbought or homemade
• 2 egg whites
• 4 ounces (155 grammes) sugar

For the icing,

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) unsalted butter, softened
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar
• 6 fluid ounces (180 millilitres) milk
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) cornflour
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

METHOD

First, prepare the meringue,

• Preheat the oven to 120°C (250°F, Gas Mk.½), and line a flat baking tray with baking paper. Turn the paper upside down, and draw a 7 inch (18 centimetre) circle on it with a pen, then turn it right way up again.
• Using the egg whites and sugar, make a meringue mixture. Fill a piping bag fitted with a half inch (1 centimetre) round tip, and use some of the mixture to fix the paper to the baking tray.
• Pipe one large meringue disk into the circle, about a half inch (1 centimetre) thick, making sure the sides are straight and don't taper. In the free paper around the circle, pipe some little meringue kisses: I made eight 1 inch (2 centimetre) meringues, but the size and shape is up to you. If you don't have enough room on one tray, use two.
• Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until they are crisp on the outside but still pale. You don't want them to brown.
• Allow to cool on the trays completely before handling.

Next, make the icing,

• Mix the cornflour and milk in a small saucepan until completely smooth and place over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, and cook at boiling for 2 minutes, until it has thickened well.
• Transfer the mixture to a small bowl to cool fully, mixing occasionally to preventing a skin forming. It will be very thick when cool, almost like a jelly.
• Beat the butter in a mixing bowl very well using an electric mixer until almost white; this should take about 3 or 4 minutes. 
• Then, beat in the sugar gradually until fully mixed and fluffy. This should take another 4 minutes or so.
• Add the cooled custard and continue to beat until it comes together into a fluffy mass, about 2 or 3 minutes. Add in about 3 ounces (85 grammes) of lemon curd to make a nice pale yellow icing with a hint of zesty flavour.
• Fill a piping bag fitted with a half inch (1 centimetre) round tip halfway with icing, and set aside.

Finally, assemble the masterpiece,

• On your serving plate, fix the bottom layer of your cake (which is traditionally the top half of the cake with the cut dome side facing up) with a little dab of icing. Pipe a dam around the edge and fill with lemon curd, about 4 or 5 tablespoons (60 or 75 millilitres). Place the meringue layer on top, pressing very gently to fix together. 
• Again, pipe a dam around the edge, and fill with the same amount of lemon curd. Finish off with the final top cake layer, and press down gently but firmly until all the layers are well fused together.
• Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to allow everything to set a bit to make icing easier. If there is icing left in your piping bag, just pipe it all back into the bowl with the rest of the icing.
• Once chilled, ice the top and sides of the cake with the remaining icing, leaving enough behind for piping detail. I don't like a load of icing on my cakes, but if you feel you need more icing, you can make more.
• Finish the cake off with some piped borders, and the little meringue kisses. Chill for about an hour. When you want to eat it, let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes to take the chill off it.

This cake is best stored in the fridge, and will happily live there for up to 5 days. I have not frozen it, so I'm not sure of its freezing capabilities.

THIS TIME IN 2016: Birthday Cupcakes and Centre Piece Cake: Wheat-Free Lemon Sponge

THIS TIME IN 2015: Zingy Lemon Gâteau (Wheat Free)

THIS TIME IN 2014: Variations on a Theme: Lemon Curd Sponge (Wheat Free)

THIS TIME IN 2013: A Cautionary Tale on the Dangers of Novelty Cakes: The Dinnersaurus (This blog is my number one most viewed post!)

As you can see, all of Mum's birthday cakes of the past 4 years are lemon flavoured. I wasn't lying!

Christmas Cake Decoration Idea

Merry Christmas, everyone! In this post, I'm going to provide you not with a recipe, but with a decoration idea for Christmas cake.

I have many different Christmas cake recipes on this blog, which I will list. If rich fruit cake is not something you would like, you could make a chocolate cake, or a gingerbread spiced cake. You don't need to honour tradition every year!

This year, I decorated the cake with a little Christmas tree and presents scene, using meringues and marzipan models. I started the process three days before Christmas, and used:

• One 8 inch (22 centimetre) round rich fruit cake
• Marzipan, as prepared below
• Meringue trees, as prepared below
• One 12 ounce (350 gramme) bag of instant royal icing powder
• Red, purple, blue, green, and yellow gel colouring
• Icing sugar

To make the meringue trees, I separated one medium egg into white and yolk, and kept the yolk for a different project. I whipped the egg white with a few drops of lemon juice until it became foamy, then gradually added 2 ounces (55 grammes) of white caster sugar while whipping until it reached stiff peaks. I mixed in a few drops of green colouring gel to get a delicate slightly minty green. I lined a baking tray with non-stick paper, and put the meringue mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. I piped little swirls, about an inch and a half (4 centimetres) tall, sprinkled them with coloured hundreds and thousands, and some star shaped and snowflake shaped decorations. I baked them in an oven preheated to 120°C (250°F, Gas Mk.½) for 45 minutes. When cooked, I allowed them to cool slightly on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

I made some homemade marzipan, following this recipe but upping the almond to icing sugar ratio to 3:4, as opposed to 1:1, and adding a few extra drops of water to account for the extra sugar. I used 6 ounces (170 grammes) of ground almonds, and 8 ounces (225 grames) of icing sugar.

I rolled the marzipan to a half inch (1 centimetre) thickness, cut a circle to fit the top of the cake, and fixed it to the cake with a simple icing sugar and water glaze. Using the remaining marzipan, I divided into 5 parts, colouring each part red, purple, green, blue, and yellow. Using the marzipan, I made a selection of little presents, varying from an inch (2½ centimetres) to a quarter inch (5 millilmetres) in size, and in a few different shapes, like ovals and rectangles.

I made some royal icing (from a bag; yes, I cheated) to cover the 8 inch (22 centimetre) round fruit cake. I set aside about 3 tablespoons (45 millilitres) of the icing to ice the presents, and used the rest to coat the cake. I hit the icing with the back of a metal spoon to peak it.

I arranged the trees onto the icing while it was still wet. I filled a small greaseproof icing bag with the remaining royal icing, and arranged the marzipan presents in piles, using the icing to fix them together and decorate them with a tied ribbon effect. 

After everything was fixed to the cake, I sprinkled everything lightly with some icing sugar, to simulate some now.

Here are some more photographs of the finished cake:

 

 

THIS TIME IN 2015: Gingerbread Pandas (Wheat Free with a Dairy Free Option)
THIS TIME IN 2014: A Multitude of Different Kinds of Fudge [Back Dated]
THIS TIME IN 2013: No blog

200 Recipes! Strawberry Fairy Cakes (with Meringue Buttercream)

Happy 200th Recipe!!

Today marks the 200th recipe (technically the 201st post, but the first post I ever wrote was an introductory one), so I thought I'd do something that I've always wanted to do but have actually never done: strawberry cupcakes.

When I was in college, the canteen served these super cute pink-iced fairy cakes. They had tooth-achingly sweet buttercream, flavoured with strawberry and coloured pink, and were decorated with little pink and white heart shaped sprinkles (like the ones I buy from Lidl; I think you've been rumbled, catering company!). The cake was just simple vanilla sponge. There's something wonderful about synthetic strawberry flavour: it conjures up images of childhood, and even as an adult who knows it's cheap and nasty I just can't help but love it.

I know you're all thinking, how can you have been running a bakery blog for nearly 3 years and never have done a simple strawberry cupcakes recipe? Unfortunately, here in Ireland strawberry essence is hard to come by, and usually very expensive, so I just forgot about it for quite some time.

However, the other day I was catching up on my YouTube channel subscriptions, and saw a woman making icing using strawberry milkshake powder, and I suddenly felt like a bit of an idiot: that stuff is super cheap and easy to come by, and I actually had used it once to make icing when I was a teenager.

So, I went to the shop to buy some, and inspected the ingredients: it's pretty much all sugar, except for less than one-percent strawberry powder, and some flavouring. This makes it easy to swap out for sugar in icing recipes.

This is my first foray into meringue buttercream, and I will say, it's harder than it looks. I based my creation on this recipe, halving the butter and adding it in in thin slices instead of chunks, and increasing the sugar. It made some delicious icing, but the making of it was quite complicated. I will in the future be tampering with it and trying to find a way to make it easier: I found that it kept collapsing and I had to refrigerate it to make it whip-able.

I also decided to chance putting some jam into the middle of each cake before baking, but the jam was heavier than the cake misture, so it sank to the bottom. It still tasted nice, though!

INGREDIMENTS

For 12 large cupcakes

• 6 ounces (170 grammes) white spelt flour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) cornflour
• 1½ teaspoons (7 millilitres) baking powder
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, or block margarine
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) sunflower oil
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 3 tablespoons (45 millilitres) strawberry jam, sieved

For the meringue buttercream (EXPERIMENTAL; correct recipe to follow)

• 2 medium egg whites
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) strawberry milkshake powder
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) white caster sugar
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter at room temperature, cut into thin slices

HOW-TO

To make the cakes,

• Line a 12 hole muffin tin with large paper cases, and preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate).
• Make the cake mixture following this recipe (leaving out the jam). Divide equally between the 12 cases: they should be about three-quarters full. Swirl half a teaspoon of strawberry jam in each cake, and tap the pan off the work surface to release all the bubbles.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until well mounded and springy to the touch. Take out of the oven, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing,

• Put the strawberry milkshake powder, caster sugar, and egg whites in a large heatproof mixing bowl. Heat over a saucepan containing about an inch (2 centimetres) of simmering water. Stir until hot to the touch, and when you rub the mixture between your fingertips you can feel no grains of sugar.
• Take off the heat, and beat with an electric whisk until you have a super fluffy, big, soft meringue that is completely cold; it should have at least tripled in size. This can take anywhere from 7 to 15 minutes, depending on the strength and quality of your whisk.
• With the whisk still running, add in a slice of butter at a time; each slice should be no more than half an ounce (15 grammes). Once the first slice is completely beaten in, add the next one, and so on. Take it slowly: otherwise it might collapse.
• If it does collapse, no worries: finish adding the butter, then refrigerate for about 20 to 30 minutes and beat again, and it should be lovely and fluffsome.
• Put into a piping bag fitted with a close star nozzle, and pipe onto the cooled cakes as you please. Decorate with sprinkles of your choice!

As you can see in this picture, I also made some chocolate ones, which were fabulous. The meringue buttercream is much lighter and creamier than traditional buttercream, so I actually prefer it, however I need to work on my technique. Watch this space...

Lemon Meringue Tarts (Wheat Free)

My mother has been essentially locked in her office for the last week working feverishly on her Master's essays and assignments. I decided to make her a treat for finishing a successful week's work, and she does so love things that taste of citrus.

I thought I'd crack out the four-hole Yorkshire pudding tin that I inherited a few years back. It was in a box of things that my Grandma had left for my Mum and we received it when my Grandda died. About four years ago I claimed it as my own and assimilated it into my vast collection of cooking tins.

For this rendition of a classic, I used both orange and lemon juice for extra zing.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten (unless you use gluten-free oats)
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Eggs
☒ Dairy (check italics for alternatives)

INGREDIMENTS

For pastry:

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) white spelt flour
• 2 ounces (55 grammes)  cornflour
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter or margarine
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• Pinch of salt

For curd filling:

• 3 fluid ounces (90 millilitres) lemon juice (or a mixture of lemon and orange)
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 teaspoons (15 millilitres) cornflour
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) butter or just leave this out
• Pinch of salt

For meringue:

• 1 egg white
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• Pinch of salt

HOW-TO

For pastry case(s):

• In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter or margarine until soft and creamy, then beat in the sugar and zest.
• Sieve in the flours and salt and mix with a wooden spoon until a soft dough is formed. Gather with your hands, make into a disc approximately 1 inch (2.5 centimetres) thick and pop in the fridge for an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate). You will need an 8 inch (20 centimetre) tart tin or a Yorkshire pudding tin with four 4 inch (10 centimetre) holes. There is no need to grease them.
• Roll the dough out to about a quarter inch (.5 centimetre) thick and cut 5 inch (12 centimetre) rounds to line each Yorkshire pudding hole. Alternatively, drape the rolled pastry into the large tart tin and gently press in, using the rolling pin to roll over the edges of the tin and cut off the excess.
• Prick the case(s) all over with a fork and blind bake. To blind bake, line the case(s) with some scrunched up baking paper and fill with some coins; this stops the shell from rising too much.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, remove the paper and coins, then return to the oven to cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes or until a gentle golden brown colour.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before preparing the curd.

For the curd:

• In a saucepan, blend the cornflour, egg yolk and about 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) of the juice into a smooth paste. Add the rest of the juice and the sugar and stir until evenly combined.
• Cook gently over a medium flame, mixing all the time with a whisk or rubber spatula, until it has thickened up into the consistency of... well, lemon curd. I don't really know how to describe it: a very gloopy, thick gel I suppose.
• Take from the heat and stir in the butter.
• Fill the pastry up to about an eighth inch (.3 centimetre) from the top of the shell(s).

For the meringue:

• In a heatproof glass or metal mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients until evenly combined.
• Put the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.
• Remove from the heat and continue beating until stiff peaks are formed.
• Cover the filled tart(s) with the meringue using either a piping bag fitted with a star tip, or just pile it in and smooth it out with a fork for texture.
  
  

I don't have any photographs yet of the cut open tart to show off the layered effect, but I will update you all very soon!

There was no blog this time last year.

Fool-Proof Meringue (Unless You're a Really Foolish Fool)

Apologies for lack of photos! That will be amended tomorrow when the camera is out of camera hospital (ie. my Dad's workshop).

How to make meringue; the ultimate question. For something so simple in theory, it is notorious for going very, very wrong very, very often. It's either too dry, or too sticky, or it gets too burnt, or melts all over the oven, sets too hard, sets too soft among other numerous problems.

I have found, however, that once you conquer a few little factors the perfect meringue will materialise as if by magic! The two factors are, like with any recipe under the sun, the recipe itself and the method by which it is made. I know I sound like Captain Obvious, but making meringues can be a delicate process that can be very easily upset if handled to roughly. So, onto my own personal recommendations:

INGREDIMENTS

The most basic formula for meringues, which is a time-tested staple to any cookery book, is 2 ounces (55 grammes) of caster sugar to 1 large egg white; 1 large egg white weighs roughly 1 ounce (30 grammes). That simple. However, there is a small issue with using just these two ingredients: it's not stable enough.

Have you ever made a meringue that collapses after baking, or one that goes all soggy a few hours later, or one that's crisp outside but wet and gummy in the middle? These are all results of the meringue separating during cooking: the sugar, water and protein have not bonded properly, meaning that the protein contracts, squeezing all the water out, and the sugar crystallises. This is bad juju.

The way to stop a meringue from separating is to stabilise it using one simple ingredient: an acid of any kind. The acid breaks down the protein allowing it to hold onto the sugar and water more easily, and then cook into shape while in the oven. For each egg white, use 1 pinch of cream of tartar, 3 drops of lemon juice or 3 drops of white vinegar. That's all that's needed.

If you want to make it even more stable, you can also add ¼ teaspoon cornflour. But, more on that in the...

METHOD
That there are two methods that work every time, no matter what you're doing.

METHOD A
Method A is the traditional French meringue. Because it's still technically raw on going into the oven to bake and needs to cook for quite a while, it is best suited for little meringues or pavlova bases.

• First of all, prepare your mixing bowl. Don't use plastic, as the surface can be too uneven; the best materials to use are either glass or metal. Take some kitchen roll, dampen it with a small amount of lemon juice or vinegar, and clean the inside of the bowl. This is to remove any shred of any trace of oil, which is the enemy of a successful meringue.
• Separate the eggs, put the egg whites into the bowl, and leave to sit at room temperature for an hour. If you can do this step a few days before you need to make the meringue, even better (obviously, keep them in the fridge until the aforementioned hour before cooking). The older the whites, the bigger the fluff.
• Before you begin preparing the meringue, preheat your oven to 120°C (250°F, Gas Mark ¼, very slow)
• Mix the lemon juice and cornflour together, and mix into the egg whites until fully mixed in.
• Using a balloon whisk (for masochists) or an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites on high speed until they reach the soft peak stage. Soft peaks stage is where the egg whites have turned completely into a dense foam, leaving no liquid behind, and on pulling out the whisk, a little peak is left behind that flops over.
• At this stage, running the mixer on medium speed, add in the caster sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until fully mixed in.
• Halfway through adding the sugar, add in the cornflour and acid (whether it be cream of tartar, lemon juice or vinegar). Continue adding the sugar as you were.
• Continue whisking the mixture until stiff peaks stage is reached. Having added the sugar, the dense bubbly foam that you had should have become a shiny, thick, glossy mass, and on pulling the whisk out of the mixture, a peak should be left behind that stands up completely straight. This might take a while to achieve, so don't feel like it's taking too long.
• You now have meringue mixture to do with whatever you will (see baking instructions below)

METHOD 2
Method B is known as Swiss meringue. This is partially cooked over a bain-marie, which makes it suitable for recipes where the meringue isn't cooked for very long such as lemon meringue pie or baked Alaska. This method is a little trickier, but makes a more sturdy meringue. 

• Like with the first method, separate the eggs, leave them, and preheat the oven. You can slow cook this like in method A, or you can set your oven to up to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate) to toast it quickly for a pie topping or Baked Alaska.
• The next step is to set a medium saucepan to simmer gently with about 2 inches (5 centimeters) of water in it. If you're afraid of cooking the egg whites, you can actually bring the water to a rough simmer then turn the heat off altogether.
• Into the eggs, add all the sugar and mix until the sugar is incorporated. Place the bowl on top of the saucepan and mix the eggs and sugar gently with a wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved. Don't allow the water in the saucepan to boil, or you'll end up with sweet scrambled egg-whites.
• Once the sugar has dissolved into the egg whites, remove the bowl from atop the saucepan and beat relentlessly with a balloon whisk (for masochists) or electric hand mixer until the stiff peaks stage is reached. This can take from ten minutes to fifteen, depending on the strength your hand mixer; using your hand will take substantially longer, something more like the rest of your life.
• Once soft peaks are achieved, add in your cornflour and acid. Continue beating until firm peaks are formed, which is a tiny little bit floppier than firm peaks. Because the mixture is slightly warm, full stiff peaks cannot be achieved using this method; believe me, I've tried.
• You now have meringue mixture to do with whatever you will (see baking instructions below)

PREPARATION FOR BAKING

• Line your baking tray(s) with non-stick paper, like waxed or silicone paper, and prepare your meringue mixture however you want, just make sure the meringue is no deeper than 1 or 2 inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters), otherwise it won't cook properly.
• You could also put the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1/2 inch (1 centimeter) nozzle.
• Cook for at least 30 minutes, until dry. The larger ones will obviously take longer, and I have notes on that below.

BAKING TIMES
Baking times depend on how dry you want your meringues to be. If you want them a little soft in the middle, bake them for the shorter time, but if you like them almost completely dried out, bake them for the longer time. Obviously, the higher you make your piles of meringue will increase the baking time: a thin meringue cooks faster than a fat one, no matter how wide it is. The best way to tell if the meringue is cooked is:

• Fully dry and matte on the outside.
• Hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom.
• Not in any way sticking to the paper, almost as if it's just resting on the paper.

However, for the pedantic, here are some rough guidelines:

• Little meringues, about 2 inches across, take about 45 minutes to an hour.
• Medium sized meringues, about 4 or 6 inches across, take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half.
• Large, pavlova sized meringues 6 or more inches across, can take an hour and a half, but try not to leave it in any longer as it'll begin to colour too much.

COOLING
Take the meringue(s) off the tray and cool on a wire rack to cool completely. Because the meringue(s) is quite porous, it won't take long to cool, maybe 20 minutes.

WHAT THEN?
What you do with your meringues now is completely up to you! Smother them in cream and coat them with berries, or drizzle them with melted chocolate, the possibilities are endless. They're even pretty nice on their own!

I hope this little thesis answers all the questions you have on baking meringues, however if there is any base I have left uncovered please do not hesitate to ask me any questions!