Blackberry Meringue Cake

R. asked for me to make this, as I hadn't made it in years. This is in part because our house is a construction mess so we haven't been entertaining people over, and I tend to bake when we have guests. Cakes and pies are a lot of food for two people!

But he bought the blackberries so how could I refuse?

It was just as good as we remembered it, in spite of the eggwhites not quite fluffing up right.

This is a lot easier than it seems and could be made with redcurrants or other berries too.

Recipe:

Ingredients
Makes 6 servings
175g butter (or margarine)
250g sugar (in 2 sets of 125g)
salt (i tend to forget it)
3 eggs, separated
1 lemon, grated zest (rind)
400g blackberries (you can use frozen, but if you do don't thaw them unless you want purple meringue)

Preparation

Use a circle cake tin, not too large as it is nice to have decent layers.

BASE
======

Stir the butter to make a soft cream - by hand or machine (if using a machine, be aware that this is a rather sticky dough so you will lose quite a bit or have a long scraping job)
Add the first 125g of sugar, a pinch of salt, egg yolks and lemon zest.
Mix well until the yolks and the sugar are well mixed (yolk color turns a lot paler, although if like me you use unbleached sugar it's not very noticeable).
Add the flour and assemble the dough without kneading.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Pat or roll dough flat directly on the tin base (it cant be moved as it will stick and fall apart. I use the plastic wrap to make sure the rolling pin doesnt stick). Prick generously with a fork (so it stays flat while cooking). Close the tin edge.

Bake in oven for 15 minutes

MERINGUE
========

Whisk the egg whites + a pinch of salt to a firm mass (feel free to use a drop of lemon juice or cream of tartar or whatever trick you are familiar with)
Add half of the second 125g of sugar (roughly) and continue to beat until you get a shiny firm mass. Add the other half of the sugar without beating (just mix in) and the blackberries (gently).

Pour this mass over the cake base, and put back in the oven at the same temperature for 30 minutes.

Take the cake out of the oven. While the cake is still hot, run a blade along the edges to make sure the meringue layer does not stick to the edges and remove the circle side. Be careful and do this on a easy surface, as some juice may leak, depending on the berries. Wait till the cake is cool to remove the bottom (the base can be crumbly when warm).

Serve cool and enjoy :D

Posted (with more photos) on http://forkd.com/recipe/blackberry-meringue-cake-tourte-aux-mures-1235