Indulge in the fluffy and decadent layers of this homemade Pinocchio Cake - Swedish Meringue Cake recipe. This classic dessert is the perfect combination of delicate sponge cake and heavenly meringue with a cream and berry center. Follow our step-by-step instructions and surprise your family and friends with a truly impressive and delicious treat.
Why you’ll love this
Light and fluffy
This Swedish Meringue Cake recipe features layers of delicate sponge cake and fluffy meringue frosting, creating a light and airy dessert that is perfect for any occasion. The combination of textures and flavors is absolutely irresistible.
Beautiful presentation
With its layers of meringue and light sponge cake, my Swedish Meringue Cake is a showstopper that is sure to impress your guests. It's a great option for special occasions like birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries.
Easy to make
While this cake may look complex, my recipe is simple and easy to follow, making it a great choice for novice bakers. With detailed instructions and helpful tips, you'll be able to create a stunning Swedish Meringue Cake that tastes as good as it looks.
Ingredients and substitutions for Swedish Meringue Cake
- Eggs: The eggs should be room temperature, particularly the whites because they allow for better aeration at room temperature resulting in a fluffier meringue.
- Plain flour: Plain or all purpose works best here for a nice texture to the base, however, you could use bread flour in equal measure here if that’s all you have on hand.
- Butter: Unsalted softened was used here as this is fresher than salted, however, you could absolutely substitute salted butter here.
- Sugar: As a result of using superfine or caster sugar, the nice fine granules dissolve into our sponge and meringue and add sweetness without adding additional flavors.
- Baking powder: This helps our base rise so it is nice and light.
- Berries: Fresh strawberries and raspberries are best here. The easiest way to clean them before use is in a bowl filled with filtered water and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Rinse and dry them off and they will keep for several days covered and refrigerated.
See recipe card for quantities.
Equipment needed to make this
Offset spatula: A small spatula helps smooth out the sponge and meringue topping.
Mixing bowl: A medium mixing bowl or two, is required for the base, meringue and whipped cream.
Greaseproof paper: Lining your baking tray will make getting the dessert off easy.
Hand or stand mixer: To whip the base and meringue, this is best done with a mixer, such as a KitchenAid to get as much air as possible into the ingredients. Though both can be done by hand.
FAQ’s for the best Swedish Meringue Cake
Do I need to outline rectangles for this recipe?
Most recipes for this dessert doesn’t recommend drawing an outline, rather simply spreading your mixture onto a baking tray with a slight lip (think, a rectangular pizza tray with a 1 inch / 2 centimeter lip) and simply cutting in half, however, this dessert rises as it bakes and having an outline to work with will mean less work after baking.
More berry recipes you'll love!
How to make Swedish Meringue Cake:
Preheat your oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper with two equal rectangular outlines marked for the dessert (I used an 11 centimeter / 4 inch x 20 centimeter / 8 inch loaf tin to stencil onto my paper (see FAQ’s). Set aside.
Place the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.
Add in one egg yolk and whip until combined.
Repeat with the remaining egg yolks.
In a small separate bowl, toss the flour and baking powder and stir together.
Add ¼ of the flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture and ¼ of the milk and fold until smooth.
Repeat by adding in the flour and milk in portions and folding until your batter has been formed.
Spoon batter and spread evenly to ¼ inch thickness within the marked areas on your tray and set aside.
Meanwhile, place the egg whites into a clean and dry bowl and whip until soft peaks form, approximately 3 minutes.
Continue whipping, adding in 1-2 tablespoons of the sugar until dissolved, approximately 30-45 seconds of whipping.
Repeat with the remaining sugar until fully incorporated and your meringue is stiff and glossy.
Spoon the meringue evenly on top of your egg yolk mixture.
Bake in the oven until the exterior is lightly golden, approximately 25 minutes
Remove and allow to cool completely.
Place one of the desserts onto your serving plate and top with whipped cream evenly.
Spoon over the jam evenly before sprinkling over ¾ of the strawberries and raspberries.
Lay the remaining dessert on top and finish with the remaining fruit.
Slice and serve.
Dig in!
Pinocchio Cake - Swedish Meringue Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: Serves 8
- Category: Desserts
- Cuisine: Swedish
Description
This Pinocchio Cake - Swedish Meringue Cake recipe has an egg yolk cake base with a light meringue topping that sandwiches whipped cream and berries between for a bright Swedish dessert that welcomes in Spring.
Ingredients
Base
100 grams / 3.5 ounces butter, softened
50 grams / ¼ cup superfine/caster sugar
3 egg yolks, room temperature
78 grams / ½ cup - 1 teaspoon plain flour
4 grams / 1 teaspoon baking powder
30 grams / 2 tablespoons milk
Meringue
3 egg whites, room temperature
100 grams / ½ cup superfine/caster sugar
Topping
300 milliliters / 1 ¼ cups - 1 tablespoon heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
105 grams / ⅓ cup strawberry jam
400 grams / 14.1 ounces fresh strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
400 grams / 14.1 ounces fresh raspberries
Instructions
Base
- Preheat your oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper with two equal rectangular outlines marked for the dessert (I used an 11 centimeter / 4 inch x 20 centimeter / 8 inch loaf tin to stencil onto my paper (see FAQ’s). Set aside.
- Place the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.
- Add in one egg yolk and whip until combined.
- Repeat with the remaining egg yolks.
- In a small separate bowl, toss the flour and baking powder and stir together.
- Add ¼ of the flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture and ¼ of the milk and fold until smooth.
- Repeat by adding in the flour and milk in portions and folding until your batter has been formed.
- Spoon batter and spread evenly to ¼ inch thickness within the marked areas on your tray and set aside.
Meringue
- Meanwhile, place the egg whites into a clean and dry bowl and whip until soft peaks form, approximately 3 minutes.
- Continue whipping, adding in 1-2 tablespoons of the sugar until dissolved, approximately 30-45 seconds of whipping.
- Repeat with the remaining sugar until fully incorporated and your meringue is stiff and glossy.
- Spoon the meringue evenly on top of your egg yolk mixture.
- Bake in the oven until the exterior is lightly golden, approximately 25 minutes.
- Remove and allow to cool completely.
Topping and Assembly
- Place one of the desserts onto your serving plate and top with whipped cream evenly.
- Spoon over the jam evenly before sprinkling over ¾ of the strawberries and raspberries.
- Lay the remaining dessert on top and finish with the remaining fruit.
- Slice and serve.
- Dig in!
Notes
Adapted from Recept.se
Nutrition
- Calories: 428 calories per serve
Keywords: spring dessert, meringue, berry recipes
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