Gooseberry meringue cake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 300 g puff pastry, frozen
• 4 egg whites
• 40 g rusks, crumbled
• 4 egg yolks
• 220 g sugar, 60 g more if using fresh gooseberries
• 2 pinches of salt
• 3 tbsp crème fraîche
• 150 ml cream
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 700 g gooseberries
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 40 minutes

with puff pastry, for 12 pieces

Clean and wash fresh gooseberries and boil them for 3 minutes with 60g of sugar. Drain the gooseberries from the jar. Defrost the puff pastry. Cut into strips and knead thoroughly to prevent them from rising too much. Roll out 2/3 to the size of the tin (approx. 26cm in diameter). Line the base with baking paper and place the pastry in the puff pastry case. For the edge, cut out puff pastry circles (approx. 6cm in diameter). Brush the edge of the puff pastry case with 1 egg white. Place the circles slightly overlapping, with one half on the base and the other on the edge. Sprinkle the base with rusk crumbs. Preheat oven to 200°C. For the glaze, beat the egg yolks, 70g of sugar and a pinch of salt until creamy. Stir in the crème fraîche, cream and cornstarch. Spread the drained gooseberries on the pie plate and pour the glaze over them. Bake for approx. 30 minutes. Beat 3 egg whites, 150g sugar, 1 pinch of salt, and lemon juice until stiff. After about 25 minutes of baking, use a piping bag to pipe waves that become narrower from the edge to the center. Bake for another 15 minutes. Tips: I used a drinking glass from the kitchen to cut out the circles. The diameter here was about 6cm, and I needed 16. However, I placed the circles in the glass first, then coated the edges, and placed the plate on top. It was a bit larger so that the liquid icing wouldn’t run into the dish straight away. I piped the meringue in a lattice pattern. However, there was still quite a bit left over with 3 egg whites. Using up leftovers: Since I thaw a whole package of frozen puff pastry, I had some leftovers. I later cut this into squares and spread jam on them. I mixed ground almonds into the remaining meringue mixture and piped the mixture onto the squares. I sprinkle flaked almonds on top and quickly bake the squares. This little treat makes the wait for the cake until the next day short.