Gooseberry cake with meringue

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 250 g butter
• 200 g sugar
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 400 g flour
• 1 packet of baking powder
• 150 ml egg liqueur
• 4 egg whites
• 1 pinch of salt
• 150 g sugar
• 750 g gooseberries (or other sour fruits)

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes

Sheet cake, also tastes delicious with currants

For the pastry, cream the butter with sugar and vanilla sugar until fluffy. Gradually add the egg yolks until creamy. Sift the flour with the baking powder into the batter, then quickly stir in along with the egg liqueur. Preheat the oven to approximately 190°C (top/bottom heat). Spread the batter onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper (or greased/floured). Spread the peeled fruit (you can also use frozen fruit) evenly on top and lightly press it into the batter. Bake the cake for approximately 25 minutes. The batter should no longer be wobbly and should be barely browned. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form. Then slowly add the sugar, whisking continuously. Continue beating the egg whites for as long as possible. They will become increasingly glossy and creamy. This can take up to 10-15 minutes—you can’t really overbeat them. Spread the finished egg whites onto the pre-baked, still-hot cake and bake the cake at the same temperature for another 20-30 minutes until a pale brown and as dry as possible meringue has formed. Large meringue bubbles will usually form, but they will collapse as they cool. Therefore, you don’t need to spread the egg whites too precisely. Here are a few tips and hints: The cake tastes particularly delicious lukewarm, because the meringue is still nice and crisp; but it will also keep fresh for a few days if well covered and refrigerated. This is where the phenomenon of “droplet formation” can often be observed: the sugar emerges from the meringue as golden drops. The amount of sugar in both the batter and the meringue depends greatly on the acidity of the fruit used and your own taste preferences—please feel free to find your own personal optimum. The amount of fruit can also be varied—use what you have! Both temperature and baking time depend heavily on the oven, as well as the juiciness of the fruit and the thickness of the meringue layer. Therefore, please consider the information provided here only as guidelines. It’s entirely possible that one person’s cake will be ready for egg whites in just 20 minutes, while another might need 40 minutes or longer. The same applies to the meringue baking time.