Hazelnut Meringue Cake went wrong!

Asked on 20 Apr 2018 by Kiltman

Having made meringues for 40 years I thought the hazelnut apricot meringue recipe looked easy. It was a disaster. Meringues stuck in greased tin and onto paper. They barely rose.
Peeling off the paper led to a pile of soggy meringue crumbs which I was just about able to glue together with the apricot purée and the whipped cream to give dinner guests some sort of pudding.
I used a 20 cm diameter tin rather than an 18 cm one, but otherwise followed the recipe to the letter. I am a very experienced cook, I know how to whip egg whites and how to fold other ingredients into a soft mixture without losing air.

I usually make meringues by spooning the mixture straight onto baking parchment. I have never made meringues in a tin. Seems a v odd idea.
I have made Delia’s pavlova successfully many times without any failures.
What went wrong?

Lindsey, Food Editor replied

Hello,

The problem is the size of the tins that you used.

If you use 20cm tins instead of 18cm tins you need to make 1.5 x the recipe.

Clearly you know how to prepare the tins, whip together a stable meringue, toast and finely grind nuts and gently fold them.

This recipe doesn’t rise very much but your mixture just wasn’t deep enough to start with.

Best wishes

Lindsey

Kiltman replied

Thank you. Would the recipe work without the tins? Ie simply spooning 18 cm circles of meringue onto baking parchment?
1.5 times the recipe is 4.5 eggwhiltes! Tricky!

Lindsey, Food Editor replied

I haven’t tried this recipe free form but it’s similar to a Dacquoise so I can’t see why not.

4.5 large egg whites weigh about 200g