Lemon Meringue Roulade – not Only Exists but It Is Heavenly
I do realize that some people may think that I must have made a mistake in the above title. I felt the same when many years ago my mother-in-law mentioned that she was going to make it for dessert.
Lemon meringue or lemon roulade already sounded excellent (and doable!) but Lemon Meringue Roulade? How was she even going to roll a fragile and easily crushable meringue into a roulade?!
This conundrum was solved pretty quickly when I found out the details of its preparation.
You should bake a meringue base for a roulade in a slightly higher temperature but for a much shorter time than is the case for a regular one. As a result, instead of having a crispy and feather-like, you end up with a soft and cloud-like meringue.
And rolling it is pretty straightforward if you follow a few guidelines.
When the base is still in the oven, generously sprinkle with icing sugar a big piece of parchment paper (larger than the baked base).
Once cooled down a bit, carefully flip the cake upside down on that prepared paper. Then gently peel off the paper the meringue was baked on.
Next, spread the filling on top, leaving out a margin of approx. 5 cm on one of the longer sides. Using the paper to help you, roll the roulade carefully along the shorter side.
My mother in law used a filling that matches the meringue perfectly, and that is still one of my favourites. It is a combination of whipped cream, and lemon curd (bought or prepared from this recipe).
All together they make a beautiful, airy dessert. However, please remember it only feels very light but – let’s face it – it is pretty heavy in calories.
So be aware as it is easy to have a lot of it: recently my husband had a third of it in one go 😉
Lemon Meringue Roulade
Ingredients
- 6 egg whites
- 160 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp potato starch
- 0.5 tsp vanilla extract
- icing sugar for dusting
- 250 ml double cream
- 3-5 tbsp lemon curd*
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 160 Celsius degrees (top and bottom heating).
- Line an approximately 25cm x 37cm baking tray with parchment paper.
- Whisk the egg whites till stiff; continue whisking and add 1 tbsp of sugar, beat for 10-20 seconds more and add another 1 tbsp of sugar, continue until you have used all the sugar.
- Beat in the vanilla extract, vinegar and potato starch.
- Spread in the prepared tin, put to the oven and bake for 20 minutes till golden.
- Remove from the oven and cool down for a few minutes.
- Whip the cream till stiff; stir in the lemon curd.
- Generously sprinkle with icing sugar a big piece of parchment paper (bigger than the baked meringue base) and carefully flip the meringue upside down.
- Gently peel off the paper and spread the lemon filling on top, leaving out a margin of approx. 5 cm on one of the longer sides.
- Using the paper to help you, roll the roulade carefully along the shorter side.
Notes
Related Recipes:
https://tastesofhealth.eu/recipe/lemon-curd/
https://tastesofhealth.eu/recipe/almond-meringue-roulade-with-chestnut-filling/
https://tastesofhealth.eu/recipe/meringue-torte-with-raspberry-cream/
