Strawberry clouds forever

This summer I joined the happy band of people around New Zealand making and eating Annabelle Langbein’s dreamy strawberry cloud cake.

Mmmmmmmmm - essentially it’s a huge uncooked pavlova frozen into a fruity moussey fluffy thing that sits on a buttery crust of crushed Superwine biscuits liberally laced with coconut and zhooshed with cinnamon ! For true !

The “cake” is garnished with fresh raspberries, drizzled in berry syrup and swallowed with a dollop of whipped cream. Apparently it lasts in the freezer for up to a month – who would know? There is never a crumb left when I make it. Hungry hungry hippo….

If you, like me, enjoy baking when you have plenty of time and you’re in the right mood – hippos often arent - but don’t get a buzz out of it, stop right now and consider this:

The feelings that come from making this pink cloud of deliciousness are close to euphoric  (I know, I know  a hippopotomus is just a mud-wallowing water hog with bad breath and a penchant for cabbages) but…. I adored making this thing and I bet you will, too.

I wasn’t just elated that it was so easy and quick to make, I was in awe of the amazing transformation of the mess of egg whites, lemon juice, sugar and strawberries to this glossy, pale pink whip of edible cumulous nimbus.

Where did all those strawberry pips go? How come the gritty sugar melted away to nothingness? Who knew the joy of the heft of meringue forming under your shaking arm muscles as you beat the crap hell out of it ? It was indeed a magical mystical moment in my culinary life.

The cloud had to go into the freezer for four hours – a frozen cloud. It put me in mind of our approaching winter. (Fully cheated out of a summer, I am not ready for winter again so soon).

I spent the time surfing the interweb looking for more pink summer delights on the other side of the world. Do the French have such culinary treats?

Ah, mes amis, look what you can eat in France: macarons, which I have talked about before.

And, in Italy, I found this giant 200-foot-long pink rabbit lying on the side of the 5,000 foot high Colletto Fava mountain in northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Weird. You cant eat it, but you can climb it.

Gail can take you to the Piedmont region  to visit other exotic treats. Believe me, your head will be in the clouds for weeks after an activegourmetravel tour. For true!

Strawberry Cloud Cake

(Courtesy of Annabel Langbein’s book The Free Range Cook)

150g plain sweet biscuits
0.5 cup desiccated coconut
1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 heaped tablespoon caster sugar
100g butter, melted

Filling
2 egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
250g punnet of ripe strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Line the base of a 28cm springform tin.

Crush the biscuits in a paper bag with a rolling pin. Tip into a bowl and stir in the coconut, cinnamon, sugar and melted butter. Press this mixture into the base of the tin and put in the fridge.

In a bowl put the egg whites, sugar, sliced strawberries, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat on high speed for about 6-8 minutes until the mixture is really thick and the sugar has dissolved.

Spoon over the chilled base, place baking paper on top and freeze for at least four hours.

Use a knife that has been warmed in hot water and dried to cut the cake. Garnish with fresh berries and a drizzle of berry syrup.

Bon appetit