I always offer to bring the pudding when we are asked out with friends. This is a great recipe for barbecues or meals in the garden as it’s sturdy to transport and easy to put together. Make the meringue base in a traybake tin and leave it in that, so it doesn’t break on the way. Chop the fruit and pop into a sealed container, whip the cream and crème fraiche at home, take it with you and leave that in the fridge until it’s time to put it all together.
Recipe courtesy of Miranda Gore Browne. Follow her on @mirandagorebrowne on Instagram.
Ingredients
5 egg whites
300g caster sugar
1 tsp of white wine vinegar
1 tsp of cornflour
100g dark chocolate chopped into small pieces and melted
250g strawberries
200g blackberries
150g raspberries
1 tbsp of caster sugar
1 tsp of balsamic vinegar
300g double cream
300g crème fraiche
1 tsp of vanilla bean paste
20g chocolate to shave on top
Method
- Melt the chocolate and leave to one side to cool a little.
- Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then turn the whisk to high-speed and whisk in the caster sugar.
- When the mixture is thick and glossy, gently whisk in the cornflour and the white wine vinegar.
- Preheat the oven to 120 degrees.
- Line a traybake or brownie tin (ideally loose- bottomed) with a generous piece of non-stick baking paper. Use a large spoon to pile in the meringue mixture. Spoon on the melted chocolate and gently swirl into the meringue with a wooden skewer.
- Bake for an hour at 120 degrees then reduce the temperature to 100 degrees and bake for another hour. Leave the door closed and the meringue inside and switch off the oven. Leave inside over night or for a couple of hours to make it mallowy inside and crispy on the outside.
- Chop half of the strawberries and put them into a bowl with half of the blackberries and a handful of the raspberries. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of caster sugar and the balsamic vinegar and leave to stand and become syrupy and delicious. Leave the remaining berries whole (you may need to slice the strawberries in half) ready to put on top once you are dishing up.
- Whip the cream, crème fraiche and vanilla bean paste until softly peaked.
- When you are ready to put it all together, carefully lift the meringue base on its paper out of the tin and onto a board. Pile the whipped cream and crème fraiche on top, spoon over the syrupy fruit, then add the remaining fresh berries.
- Grate or shave the chocolate on top and decorate with a few edible flowers. Serve immediately.