Soft Meringue Roulade Recipe

Meringue Roulade Recipe - featured in Country Style magazine, September 2010

INGREDIENTS

Roulade
375g castor sugar
250g egg whites
2 teaspoons lemon juice or white sugar
1/2 tablespoon cornflour
1/4 teaspoon egg white powder
pinch of salt

Strawberry Syrup
1 punnet strawberries
125g castor sugar
1 star anise pod

plus one punnet of strawberries to serve

Chantilly Cream
1 1/2 cups thickened cream
2 tablespoons castor sugar
2 vanilla pods

METHOD

Meringue

Pre-heat oven to 170C

Thoroughly clean a kitchen mixer bowl with methylated spirits.

Place egg whites into bowl with a pinch of salt, egg whites and egg white powder. Turn mixer onto highest setting. Once egg whites have formed into soft peaks, add castor sugar slowly, and mix for approx. 4 minutes. Take a small sample from mixture and taste to see if the sugar has dissolved. When sugar has nearly dissolved, add lemon juice or vinegar, this will help the sugar to dissolve completely.

Once sugar is fully dissolved, turn mixture onto lowest setting and add the cornflour.

Line a 45cm x 30cm metal tray with baking paper. With a pallet knife, spread the meringue out onto the tray in a rectangular shape, keeping it 2cm from the edges as it will expand when cooked. With a fork, create parallel grooves lengthways along the surface of the meringue. Bake for 8 minutes, then turn tray around in the oven and bake for a further 8 minutes. The meringue should have a slight crust on top, if it has not yet reached this point, bake for a further 2-3 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. Trim the edges of hardened meringue. Using cling wrap, measure a length longer and wider than the meringue and place on bench. You may need to use two equal lengths of cling wrap and overlap slightly in the centre to be of an equal width to the meringue (you will be rolling the meringue into a log) - place on bench. Place the meringue onto cling wrap, facing grooved side down. Spread the chantilly cream with a palette knife to form an even layer. Gently roll the meringue to form a scroll. Secure the log with another layer of cling wrap to ensure it remains tight. Refrigerate for at least one hour to allow the cream to set.

Strawberry Syrup

Wash and slice the strawberries. Place in a bowl with sugar and toss. In a zip lock bag, place the strawberry mix and star anise.

Bring a pot of water to a slight simmer and place the bag of stawberries in for 15-20 minutes, securing the bag into the pot of water using a peg or bulldog clip, ensuring the bag is submerged. Allow the sugar to dissolve. Once you have removed the bag from the water, shake to ensure all the sugar has dissolved. Place ina bowl of iced water for 8-10 minutes.  Strain through a fine strainer.

Chantilly Cream

Place cream into a bowl with sugar. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pods into cream mixture and whip to form soft peaks.

To serve

Slice roulade into 6 cm wide pieces, Rinse and thickly slice fresh strawberries and toss in strawberry syrup. Divide strawberries onto each plate. With a blow torch, lightly toast the surface of the roulade and place on top of strawberries.