STRAWBERRY MERINGUE TRIFLE
What a great combination right? Strawberries and meringue. But this delicious dessert is way more than just that!! It has a bunch of strawberries and obviously meringue, but add in condensed milk, a lot of dulce de leche and you have the most perfect dessert EVER.
I am absolutely in love with strawberry season. Besides the obvious, I love the cool weather and the fact that most of my family’s birthdays are in these couple of months. A lot of celebrating means a lot of dessert and cake!
And that is how this dessert was born! I was experimenting with a few ideas for my dad’s birthday and with a few cakes and desserts in mind I ended up making this half pavlova, half vanilla cake, half strawberries and cream.
The first few tries had more of a pavlova structure. Making the meringue “bowl” is a bit hard to be honest. I had to try it a few times before actually getting what I wanted. I filled this meringue bowl with vanilla cake, condensed milk filling, fresh strawberries and dulce de leche. Such a pretty and delicious dessert!
This version of my experiment is way easier to make and the flavor is the same or even better actually. The great thing about this truffle is that you can make it in a glass bowl, individual glasses or even a ceramic container. It looks BEAUTIFUL and delicious in each and every presentation.
THE LAYERS:
Start off with a thick dulce de leche layer on the base of your container. The GREAT thing about making this dessert in a container and not in the meringue pavlova like base is that you do not have to worry about the structure. You can add as much dulce de leche and fillings that you want without worrying about it falling apart.
The second layer is a simple vanilla cake. In the recipe card you will find the recipe for a small cake. You’ll be using only two layers. You can cut the cake in even layers of just break some pieces apart and add them. Again, the beauty of making this as a trifle.
After the cake, you add in thinly sliced strawberries. Make sure to cover the previous layers completely. On top of that, add the condensed milk filling .
The next layer is meringue! You’ll find the recipe for the meringue layer in the recipe card as well. It’s not very hard and it does take a couple of hours to make but it’s worth it. The meringue is made in a mixer and dried in the oven for two hours. There is another easier way, you can find meringue drops almost anywhere and they work just as fine!
The next layer is a dulce de leche layer again and finally a second layer of cake.
To decorate the cake, use a combination os whole strawberries, some cut in half and a few slices as well with a few more chunks of meringue. There is no specific way to decorate it, just make sure you cover everything with the strawberries and meringue and you’re done! The strawberries will do all the work.
You can add a few strawberries with the stem as well to add a bit of green!
HEADING:
Baking sheet: This is in case you make the meringue!
Parchment paper: You need to be able to take the meringue out easily. Place a sheet of parchment paper before spreading the meringue on the baking sheet.
Mixer: for the meringue and for the vanilla cake.
A container of your preference: I used a glass cup (?) I don’t actually know what to call it but you can see it in the photos! I chose this one because I wanted to be able to see the layers.
Knife: Cut the strawberries in thin slices for the filling.
Silicone spatula: Spreading the fillings is easier with this or a spoon!
Bowls: You’ll need two bowls for the vanilla cake part!
Kitchen scale and cup measures
Cake pan: The easiest thing to do is find a cake pan that has the same shape your truffle container has! So if it’s a round bowl like mine, use a round cake pan. Makes it easier.
STRAWBERRY MERINGUE TRIFLE
Ingredients
- 500 gr Dulce de leche
- 1 Recipe condensed milk filling
- 1.5 kgs fresh strawberries
- MERINGUE
- 4 egg whites
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 3 tsp cornstarch
- VANILLA CAKE
- 200 gr self rising flour
- 175 gr sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg + 1 yolk
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 145 ml milk
- 30 gr vegetable oil
- 88 gr butter
Instructions
MERINGUE
- Preheat the oven at 250F.
- Whip the egg whites at medium/low speed until it starts bubbling up.
- Turn the speed up to medium/high and keep mixing until it's completely foamed.
- Add sugar in three different additions.
- The meringue is ready when touching between two fingers you can't feel any sugar.
- Add vinager and cornstarch and miz for a few more seconds.
- Spread the meringue on top of the parchment paper and bake for two hours.
- Turn the oven off, open the door slightly and leave the meringue inside for an extra 20 minutes.
- Take it out of the oven and leave it to cool completely.
CAKE
- Preheat the oven and butter the cake pan.
- Measure and combine liquid ingredients, milk, oil, eggs and vanilla
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt with the butter. Mix until crumbly.
- Slowly add in the liquids with the mixer on medium speed.
- Pour batter in the cake pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cake cool completely.
THE DESSERT
- Start of with a thick dulce de leche layer on the base and spread it a bit to the sides as well.
- Add a layer of vanilla cake.
- Slice the strawberries and completely cover the cake and dulce de leche.
- Add a thick layer of condensed milk filling.
- Break the meringue in rough pieces and completely cover the previous layer.
- Add a bit more of dulce de leche. You can add a bit more of the condensed milk filling as well. Don't spread it, just kind of throw it on top.
- Add the second layer of cake.
- Cover completely with whole, halved and sliced strawberries as well as extra meringue.
- ENJOY!
