Mascarpone & Meringue Cake | You've Got Meal!

I started thinking about this recipe as a great one for the 8th of March, International Women's Day, but honestly it is a good one to keep for all special occasions. It is "absurdly" simple, so it is a nice choice for everyone who actually can't bake, but want to make a sweet surprise for the women in their life.

I chose to use a store-bought sponge cake because it is way easier, but you can find many recipes online if you want to bake it yourself. Actually, if you use a round  one, you get an awesome anniversary cake, but you can always go for a square or rectangular one and serve them as dessert squares.

As far as the cream goes, the cake had 3 cream layers plus the top. For such a simple recipe I just had to use a Mascarpone cream, because I love it the most and it makes any dessert so smooth and silky. You can't go wrong with Mascarpone. To mix things up, I added some apricot jam and some crushed meringues for fun and for a lovely, crunchy surprise. Of course you can make your own meringues also, but I saw some lovely colorful ones in a bakery and I figured they would look great on the top cream layer.

That being said you will need:

• 1 simple cake/ sponge or cake mix
• some jam of your choice (apricot worked perfectly, great would also be peach, fig or orange, cherry or strawberry might overshadow your cream)
• Mascarpone cream (see recipe below)
• some crushed meringues (preferably colored, so they can be spotted through the white cream)

For the Mascarpone cream:

• 250 g Mascarpone cheese
• 70 g sugar
• 2 eggs

1. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the mix is smooth and creamy. 
2. Add the Mascarpone to the egg yolks and fully incorporate the cheese. 
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until peaks form.
4. Add the egg whites to the cream mixture, fold it in fast but gently with a spatula.

1st layer: (jam + cream) Spread some apricot jam on the first sheet, then spread some cream over the jam.
2nd layer: (cream) Time to keep it simple, just spread some Mascarpone cream.
3rd layer: (jam + cream) The same as on the first layer.
4th layer, the top one: (cream and meringues) Crush some meringues, leaving some bigger bits and sprinkle them over the remaining cream. Fold the meringue bits gently and spread the mix on top of the cake.

Save some more meringues to sprinkle on top before serving. Store in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. If you have dense, hard cake you can pour a bit of simple syrup or fruit liquor on each layer before spreading the cream and you will get a softer, moist cake.

It is a dessert recipe worth trying, it is just sweet enough, it is super fun to make if you prepare ahead and there is no baking involved.

Enjoy,

Oven Baked Perch with an Almond and Breadcrumbs Crust or O.B.P.A.B.C.

What (!?!?!), you’re definitely gonna remember that abbreviation for a long time, especially after you taste this fish, pair it with a nice, crunchy, vibrant green bean side dish and a chilled Chardonnay.

So let’s get cracking. I used a big fish, around 2 kilos, that I filleted. 

Oven Baked Whiting with Fennel Fondue

We bought this fish for the 1st time and wanted to see if it’s worth keeping it on our sights. The price was a reasonable one and the fish proved to be a quite tasty one, so we will be cooking it again for sure.



When trying new types of fish, I tend not to overdo it, just keep cooking to a minimum, so I can really taste the meat, in a very natural form, without overshadowing it with too many flavors.



So I just cleaned the fish (we had 2 whiting fish, about 250 grams each), drizzled it with some olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper and I popped in a hot oven, in a tray with some oven proof paper, for around 10 minutes. For the fennel, I used 1 onion, 1 fennel (reserve the leaves for garnishing), 3-4 cloves of garlic, 200 ml of dry white wine, in this case a 2010 Chenin Blanc form South Africa, some lemongrass, 75 grams of butter, salt, red pepper, sugar, lemon, cream (optional).



Start of by melting the butter and cooking the sliced onion, fennel, and garlic on high heat for 2 minutes, then turn the stove down to a minimum, add the sugar, lemon grass, salt and pepper and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add the wine, and let it reduce. After that you can add some cream and mix for another minute, but I preferred to do this without it. Plate the fish and the fennel, sprinkle generously with lemon juice and fennel leaves.



Enjoy,