Rhubarb cake with teardrop meringue

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 200 g flour
• 70 g sugar
• 70 g margarine or butter
• 5 g baking powder
• 1 egg(s)
• 3 egg yolks
• Fat for the mold
• 750 g rhubarb
• 200 g sugar
• 2 bags of vanilla sugar
• 1 sachet of vanilla pudding powder
• 300 ml milk
• 50 g almonds, ground
• 3 egg whites
• 60 g sugar
• 1 pinch of salt

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest time approx. 12 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Total time approx. 14 hours 15 minutes

Separate the three eggs and chill the egg whites. Use the egg yolks for the dough. Knead a shortcrust pastry from the flour, sugar, margarine or butter, baking powder, the three egg yolks, and the whole egg. Line a greased 28cm springform pan with the dough and raise the edges to about 3cm, then chill. Preheat the oven to 150°C fan/convection oven. Wash, trim, and peel the rhubarb, and halve thick stalks lengthwise. Cut into 1cm thick pieces and sprinkle with 200g sugar and 2 sachets of vanilla sugar. Allow the liquid to infuse, then bring to a boil gently, then simmer for a few minutes until the rhubarb has changed color. Add about half of the milk and continue to simmer gently. Mix the custard powder with the remaining milk and stir into the simmering mixture. Bring to a boil until the mixture thickens. Spread the ground almonds evenly over the dough, including the edges. Spread the rhubarb mixture over the dough and bake in a fan-assisted oven for about 30-40 minutes, until the desired degree of browning is achieved. Turn off the fan-assisted oven and use only conventional heat. Leave the heat set at 150°C. Add a pinch of salt and 60g of sugar to the egg whites and beat for about 3 minutes. The sugar will prevent the mixture from becoming as stiff. Remove the cake from the oven and pour the beaten egg whites onto the rhubarb mixture. Bake at 150°C using conventional heat for about 40 minutes, until the meringue topping is the desired degree of browning. Now turn off the oven and let the cake cool slowly for about 1 hour with the oven door open. This is important so that the teardrops form. Let the cake cool completely outside of the oven. Let it rest for another 12 hours before slicing to ensure the rhubarb mixture is firm enough to slice. The following points are important: Spread the shortcrust pastry very evenly in the springform pan, as the amount of pastry is deliberately kept to a minimum. The sugar amount (20 g per egg white) should be maintained; too much sugar will make the meringue runny and soft, and too little will prevent it from forming watery textures. Allow the cake to cool slowly as described.