Raspberry meringue roulade has the looks, it has the taste, it is everything you might want a dessert to be. Designed by Ottolenghi for a perfect, special dessert occasion.
How I first encountered meringue roulade
Meringue roulade and I have a history. We first met at a ‘bring a cake’ office do when a friend introduced us to each other. The roulade was in its chocolate incarnation then. I was smitten, even though chocolate isn't my flavour of choice when it comes to desserts.
I wasn’t a stranger to baking even then but the idea of ROLLING A MERINGUE seemed so daunting that I grilled and grilled the friend for the secret. She was evasive; ‘you just roll’, ‘it’s really easy’ was all the info she imparted.
'Just roll?' A meringue??
Just roll: in my view you might as well try to slice cream or use shortcrust pastry for icing. So that, together with the fact that there are never enough egg whites around when you need them (there are when you forget all about meringues), caused me to wait a good several years to give it a try.
Still, in the meantime I made plenty meringues: kisses and pavlovas, dacquoise and croquants which are meringues of sorts. I made meringue buttercream which is a frosting insanely heavenly, and I made meringue nougat.
I didn't dare approach rolling though until I finally braced, thought that the worst that could happen was a few wasted egg whites, and decided to give it a go.
Guess what - a success.
The best dessert in the world
It is, I assure you, the best dessert in the world and it’s not just my personal view. Okay – it’s the best dessert I’ve ever made as I’m not going to knock Pierre Hermé or Monsieur Grolet (or Yotam Ottolenghi to whom I owe the original recipe).
It has just the right balance of crisp and soft, crunchy and chewy, sweet and tart, pretty and clever.
This is the one occasion when you’re allowed to forget seasonal issues and get a punnet of Peru-grown, air-flown, fortune-costing berries. Of course, even better if you’re making this in summer, but it is actually a noble Christmas dessert.
And the secret? What’s the secret to ROLLING A MERINGUE?
Oh well, you know – it’s easy. You just roll it.
How to make the meringue base
The base is baked in a Swiss roll tin, wide and flat, additionally lined with parchment. The parchment is essential as this will help you roll the meringue, all joking aside.
Good meringue starts without sugar, beaten until soft peaks form. Then the sugar should be added, very gradually, making the meringue glossy and thick.
The small addition of cornflour and vinegar helps stabilise the base. The best way to mix in the cornflour is to stir into sugar when there’s only a little left, and the vinegar at the end. The best meringue is completely smooth when you rub it between your fingers, with no sugar granules discernible to touch.
The meringue should be spread evenly in the prepared tin and smoothed out as much as possible, as it will comes out in the shape it went in, only risen.
You can bake the base a day ahead and keep it in the kitchen, in the tin, lightly covered with paper towels.
Filling for meringue roulade
The filling is simple and gorgeous: mascarpone whisked with double cream and a little icing sugar. Keep it soft, don’t overwhip or it won’t want to spread softly. Do add some drops of rose water though, it’s a heavenly flavour.
How to roll and assemble
This is no joke this time: it really is no more difficult to roll up the meringue than it is a sponge base.
Dust the top of the meringue base, still in the parchment, with icing sugar. Cover it with a fresh length of parchment and turn it over. You can now peel off the bottom parchment, carefully. The new sheet will help you roll the meringue, all joking aside.
Spread the filling evenly over the base, scatter raspberries and rose petals, if using, and slivered or chopped pistachios. Don’t skip those either, for both the taste and the colour burst.
And now the key part: fold the long edge close to you over to start off the rolling, pressing it through the parchment.
Then roll it into a log, ignoring the cracks – they will look pretty. Set it on the seam and keep it on the parchment to slide it onto a serving tray. Decorate with remaining raspberries, rose petals and pistachios.
It should chill before serving for an hour at least, and it’s best eaten on the day. But in the unlikely event of any leftovers, they can be stored in the fridge for a day.
More meringue recipes
Mixed flavoured meringue kisses, mini meringues with lemon, raspberry, chocolate and pistachio flavour. The quickest meringue recipe, with burnt sugar.
Date and walnut nougat meringues, the most exquisite sweets for all meringue, nougat, marshmallow and turrón lovers. Meringue never tasted better!
Mini meringue kisses with chocolate ganache filling. Pretty pink coloured meringue drops, filled with the nicest white and dark chocolate ganache.
More egg white based dessert recipes
Authentic French almond macarons are very expensive, but you can make them at home. With dark chocolate ganache and lemon curd filling, they will be the most exquisite dessert you can possibly make.
Cherry cream dacquoise is an exquisite gateau which is far easier to make than you’d think. Almond meringue dacquoise layers filled with fresh cream and homemade candied cherries – a riff on black forest gateau.
French classic madeleines recipe, with egg whites and lemon zest. Madeleine recipe combines egg whites with clarified butter and it gives you the classic taste of a French madeleine.