Meringue cake
Or Lady’s caprice
According to my grandmother Velka’s recipe
Ingredients:
5 egg yolks
150 g icing sugar
150 g butter
200 ml milk
Zest of a lemon
1 packet of baking powder
250 g of flour
5 egg whites
6-8 tablespoons of icing sugar
½ cup thick jam
50 g of chopped walnuts
Preparation:
Cream the egg yolks and sugar for 3 minutes with an electric mixer. Then pour in the melted butter in a thin stream and stir in the milk and the lemon zest. Without stopping the mixer, spoon in the flour and baking powder (sifted together).
According to my grandmother’s description in her recipe book, she used to make the dough for the cake differently. First, she creamed the butter and icing sugar, then stirred in the yolks one by one, the lemon zest and the baking powder with the flour. If the dough was thick, she also poured in the milk.
Transfer the batter into a cake pan (mine measured 32 by 20 cm), previously oiled and sprinkled with flour.
Bake the cake at 180°C until it is golden and a stick comes out dry.
Whip the egg whites until stiff with a pinch of salt. Without stopping the mixer, gradually add the icing sugar. Flavor this mixture with vanilla, if you like (my grandmother didn’t use any).
Spread your favorite jam over the warm cake in an even layer (I had green fig jam while my grandmother used to put quince jam). Then sprinkle evenly with chopped walnuts and cover with a thick, even layer of beaten egg whites (my grandma wrote that she put the walnuts in the whites, but according to my mom they were in the jam). With the back of a tablespoon make waves on the whites (by pushing the spoon into the whites and lifting it).
Return the meringue cake to the oven and bake until the egg whites are golden (10 to 15 minutes).
Let the cake cool completely before serving.