Meringue trials and tribulations

My meringue trials and tribulations all began a few months ago when a colleague and I were talking about growing soft fruit.  I am growing raspberries and blueberries in tubs and he is lucky to have a large garden so can grow raspberries in the ground.  He said he would bring in some raspberries and I rashly suggested I could make a meringue (never having made one before, you understand!) and we could have a pavlova at work. 

So, the months rolled on and last week he brought in some raspberries.  I used a Delia recipe and made my first attempt.  It turned out rather browner than I would have liked and was very squidgy in the middle.  So we had to have Eton Mess with the outer, crispier bit, but that was very tasty.

Undeterred, I looked on the internet to see what I may have done wrong and discovered that 1) I hadn't whipped the egg whites for long enough and 2) the oven temperature was too high.

Yesterday, I tried again.  I whipped the egg whites until I could put the bowl upside down over my head without them moving and I lowered the oven temperature and put the meringue on the bottom shelf.



 Here it is when baked - SUCCESS!

 Here is the finished pavlova (a perfect summer dessert) with double cream (and a bit of natural yogurt mixed in), my colleague's raspberries and icing sugar.

We all enjoyed it and I was delighted with the meringue consistency - crispy with a slightly chewy bit in the middle - YUM! (The only thing that worries me is, was that a one off, or will I be able to repeat the success when my blueberries are ripe?!)

Chocolate Cake Recipe

Here, as promised, is the chocolate cake recipe.
Ingredients:
5oz (150g) self raising flour
3oz (75g) drinking chocolate
6oz (175g) caster sugar (I used granulated and it worked fine)
6oz (175g) margarine at room temperature
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons boiling water

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to Gas 4/180 degrees C/350 degrees F.  Line a 20cm/8 ins round deep cake tin with baking parchment (I added that in!).
2.  Sift flour and drinking chocolate into a large mixing bowl. 
3. Add all other ingredients and blend together.  Beat for a couple of minutes until smooth.
4. Turn into tin and bake for about 45-60 minutes until a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
5. Leave in tin for a few minutes then cool on a cooling rack.
6. Ice with your favourite icing or melted chocolate.
This quick and easy cake keeps well in a tin.

For the chocolate fudge icing:
1. Put 4oz (110g) granulated sugar and 4fl oz (115ml) milk into a pan.  Simmer for 9 minutes.
2. Add 5oz (150g) plain chocolate, 2oz (50g) butter and 2 tablespoons double cream.
3. Leave to cool and spread over the cake.
(This makes a generous amount of fudge icing)

To make the Russian Roulette Revels cake, place the contents of two large bags of Revels in a pattern on top of the cake.  Try to avoid eating the coffee ones!