Guest Post by Mowielicious: Meringue Ice Cream Cake With Summer Berries

This week’s recipe is a special treat: a guest post by Mowie of the beautiful blog Mowielicious. He’s such a rockstar that he barely needs an intro, but here it is in a nutshell: he’s a fantastic baker and writer with a penchant for everything pink (I mean, he even found pink strawberry flowers, who knew those existed.)

I’ve been enjoying Mowielicious since I started blogging, in love with his sweet treats and stunning styling (I couldn’t bake a macaron if my life depended on it, let alone put them in tulip buds.) If I had to pick a favorite post, it would have to be these amazing pear clafoutis, with these macarons a close second. So when we finally connected, I was pleased to find him as funny and lovely as he appears on the blog, open to sharing ideas and suggesting a collaboration. This week, his post will appear here; next week my icy summer sweet will appear over at Mowielicious. And now, I’ll turn it over to Mowie.

Mowie: A few weeks ago I published a baked apple pancake recipe on my blog, one of the many I got from my grandmother’s recipe books. Her collection is a treasure trove of classic and traditional German recipes that I grew up enjoying. When I stumbled upon her Meringue Ice Cream Cake recipe, I couldn’t recall ever tasting it. It was one of those she’d made once and never again, even though right next to the title, in capital letters, was the word ‘Excellent’. She explained to me that with a lifetime’s worth of recipes (90 years!), even though some were truly exceptional, she always tended to stick to the few that she memorized and kept in her weekly recipe collection.

It made me realise I do exactly the same thing. Even though there are so many days in the year, and so many new recipes to try, why is it that we stick to repeating only a handful of favourites every week? That’s not to say I’m not an adventurous cook – far from it, I try something new every day. Anyway, from the title alone, I knew I had to have an attempt at creating this luscious cake. And it turned out beautifully. It’s easy to make, does what it says in the title (literally made from iced cream – so no need for an ice cream machine), and is a definite keeper for long, hot summer days. Try making it with different fruit or substituting the chocolate for chopped nuts. It’s as versatile as it is delicious!

Mowie’s Meringue Ice Cream Cake with Summer Berries

For the Meringue Base
4 eggwhites
225g caster sugar

For the Ice Cream Topping
600ml whipping cream
200g icing sugar
300g 34% chocolate, chopped roughly

1. Preheat the oven to around 145 degrees centigrade (300 F). Line a round spring-sided cake tin (diameter 23cm/9″ x depth 8cm/3″) with parchment paper.

2. Whip the eggwhites in a bowl until stiff.

3. Slowly add the caster sugar and whisk until completely incorporated.

4. Pour into cake tin, place in a middle to low shelf of the oven and bake for about an hour or until the meringue is hard to the touch.

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the cake tin.

6. Whisk the whipping cream until stiff, fold the icing sugar and chocolate pieces into the whipped cream and pour over cool meringue (still in cake tin). Place in freezer for at least 4 hours.

7. Before serving, top with summer berries.