Food & Drinks

Allerlekkerst: this Limoncello meringue pie

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: most delicious: this limoncello meringue cake.

Limoncello: delicious! Meringue: incredibly tasty! What if you combine those two in one dish? Double the fun! But let's keep it friendly, no fighting over that last piece.

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 125 grams of sugar
  • 175 grams butter
  • 175 grams of egg
  • 175 grams self-raising flour
  • salt
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • 30 ml Fiorito Limoncello

For the soaking syrup

  • 75 ml Fiorito Limoncello
  • 50 grams of sugar

For the lemon curd

  • 2 lemons
  • 150 grams of sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 125 grams of unsalted butter
  • 30 ml Fiorito Limoncello

For the meringue

  • 120 grams of sugar
  • 60 grams of egg white

If life gives you lemons…
Who doesn't love limoncello? I don't know them, the haters. Logical, because what's not to like about the refreshing Southern Italian lemon liqueur? Delicious to drink after dinner, but with limoncello you can really go in all directions. For example, make a limoncello cocktail, wonderfully refreshing. Or how about limoncello madeleines… But first: limoncello lemon meringue, as made by the (famous) Italian restaurant Toscanini in Amsterdam.

Here's how to make limoncello lemon meringue

Start with the cake:

  • Line the baking pan with baking paper
  • Preheat the oven to 175 degrees
  • Make sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature
  • Mix the butter with the sugar, lemon zest, and salt for about 10 minutes until light and fluffy
  • Add the eggs one by one. Only add the next egg when the previous one is fully incorporated.
  • Sift the self-raising flour over the batter and gently fold it in
  • Add the limoncello and gently fold this in as well
  • Pour the cake batter into the baking tin
  • Bake the cake for about 35 minutes. Test with a skewer to make sure the cake is done.

Make the soaking syrup (a sugar syrup used to moisten a cake or biscuit) 10 minutes before the baking time is up:

  • Put the ingredients in the pan
  • Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 3 minutes
  • Poke small holes in the cake with a skewer as soon as it comes out of the oven
  • Pour the syrup over the cake
  • Let the cake cool completely

While cooling, make the lemon curd:

  • Wash the lemons thoroughly
  • Grate the peel of the lemons
  • Juice the lemons
  • Strain 100 ml of lemon juice. Add the liqueur to this
  • Put water in a pan and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to the lowest setting.
  • In another pan, add the butter, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Place this pan in a pan with boiling water (heat au-bain-marie)
  • Let this mixture warm slowly until the butter has melted
  • Beat the eggs and add them, stirring with a whisk, to the pan with the lemon mixture
  • Stir the eggs well into the mixture
  • Heat the lemon curd while stirring for about 20 minutes, until it is nice and thick
  • Turn off the heat
  • Remove the lemon curd from the pan and place it in a bowl
  • Cover it with a layer of foil and let it cool to room temperature
  • Spread the lemon curd over the cake

Make the meringue:

  • Put 20 ml of water with 100 grams of sugar in a pan and bring it to a boil
  • Heat the syrup to 120 degrees
  • Once the syrup is almost at temperature, degrease the mixing bowl and the whisk
  • Put the egg whites in the bowl
  • Whip it until it foams
  • Then add 25 grams of sugar and continue to whip gently
  • Add the sugar syrup to the egg whites. Whip on the highest setting until the meringue has cooled down. The meringue will be so stiff that it stays in the bowl when you turn it upside down.
  • Pipe the meringue over the cake using a piping bag
  • Caramelize the sugar with a blowtorch until it is nicely browned

Extra delicious with a glass of ice-cold Limoncello di Fiorito on the side!

Image: Limoncello di Fiorito