Strawberry Concorde cake

Strawberry Concorde cake is a white version of the famous chocolate Concorde cake. Traditionally, Concorde cake is made of chocolate meringue layers sandwiched with a decadent chocolate mousse; here, I have playfully reversed both the colours and flavours. If you love Eton Mess, you’ll enjoy it in the form of this white Concorde cake :). It’s essentially a more elaborate meringue cake layered with vanilla cream and strawberries. Beautiful to look at and wonderfully delicious, although unfortunately not very long-lasting; once the meringue is covered with cream and fruit, it softens quickly. The good news is that the meringue itself (completely dried throughout) can be stored in an airtight food container for up to 2 weeks, then all you need to do just before serving is whip the cream and quickly assemble the cake. Concorde cake is very sweet, wonderfully crisp from the meringue and naturally gluten-free. You’ll easily recognise it from other meringue cakes thanks to the distinctive broken pieces of meringue used to decorate it. Highly recommended!

Ingredients for the meringue layers and meringue sticks:

• 6 egg whites
• a pinch of salt
• 300 g caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons potato starch or cornflour

All the ingredients should be at room temperature.

Place the egg whites and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until stiff. Gradually add the sugar, which is important, one tablespoon at a time, whisking continuously until you have a stiff, glossy meringue. Sift in the potato starch and gently fold it in with a spatula.

Line 3 large flat baking trays with baking paper. Draw 3 small circles, each 18 cm in diameter, on the paper. Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a plain round nozzle. Starting from the centre, pipe the meringue in spiralling circles to form the meringue discs (see photo below). Pipe the remaining meringue into long strips along the length of the baking trays.

Place in an oven preheated to 80°C and dry for about 200 minutes, or even longer. The drying time and temperature will vary depending on your oven. In every case, you want a white, very crisp meringue on the outside that is completely dry in the centre. For this cake, the meringue is not ready if it is soft, marshmallowy or chewy inside. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues to cool in the slightly ajar oven.

Ingredients for the vanilla cream:

• 125 g mascarpone, chilled
• 400 ml double cream, chilled
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, or 1 teaspoon vanilla powder

Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip until stiff.

Also:

• 400 g strawberries

Hull the strawberries and cut them into smaller pieces.

Assembly:

Set aside some of the cream and strawberries for decorating. Sandwich the 3 meringue layers together with even layers of cream and strawberries. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the reserved cream. Arrange the remaining strawberries over the top. Break the meringue strips into pieces and use them to decorate the sides and top of the cake. Serve immediately.

Strawberry Concorde cake should be stored in the refrigerator, but served as soon as possible after assembly, as the meringue layers will soften and eventually dissolve slightly from the moisture in the cream.

Enjoy!