Plum And Almond Meringue Cake

Plum and Almond Meringue cake is your next easy-to-make dessert. You will love its coconut-based biscuit covered with plums and topped with a lovely almond meringue. Do not miss the plum season to treat yourself!

This Plum and Almond Meringue cake is a wonderful twist on the one of the most popular New Zealand desserts – Louise cake. The original cake is baked in a square pan and has a cake-y base topped with raspberry jam and a thin layer of coconut meringue.

A new version of the cake was proposed by the Israeli-British chef Yotam Ottolenghi and his partner Helen Goh who kept the layers but experimented with fresh fruit, thickness of meringue, and a form of the cake.

Plum and Almond Meringue cake makes the summer elegant and tasty. It’s the perfect time of the year to add plum pastries to your baking calendar.

I have already made this cake many times, experimenting with stone fruit and with the meringue to cake ratio. Each time the cake turns out irresistibly tasty. Every single piece of the cake says a sweet “hello” with a quick “good bye”, bite after bite.

Why Plum and Almond Meringue Cake Recipe Works

1. The cake recipe is straightforward and is easy to follow. There is no resting and/or cooling time between steps, which makes the baking quick and enjoyable.
2. The cake bottom has a yellow color and a dense texture due to egg yolks. It also has a light subtle flavor due to desiccated coconut.
3. Using different stone fruits such as apricots, peaches, nectarines, even cherries makes the cake a universal summer dessert.
4. The deep yellow ochre of the cake base and the white airy meringue have a remarkable contrast with the burgundy/red color of plums. This contrast gives a dramatic look to the cake.
5. Meringue sweetness is wonderfully balanced with the sour note of plums.
6. Moist, syrupy plum layer is harmonized with the cake-y base and the thick airy meringue that is baked to create a lovely crust on top.
7. Adding toasted almonds to the meringue topping gives an additional volume and crunchiness to the dessert.

How to Make Plum and Almond Meringue Cake – Step by Step

To roast almonds, preheat oven to 340 F/170 C. Place flaked almonds on a baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes, until light browned.  Remove almonds from oven, and let cool.

Increase the oven temperature to 365 F/185 C. Butter and line a round springform pan * 9 inch / 23 cm in diameter with parchment paper *.

To make the biscuit, place butter, sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer * (photo 1). Beat on  medium-high speed, until sugar/butter mixture is smooth. Add egg yolks, one at a time, and process until combined (photo 2).

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder * and salt, using a flour sifter *. Add shredded coconut * and combine well. Low speed of the stand mixer * and gradually add dry mixture to the main preparation, alternating with milk and vanilla (photo 3). Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and even top with a spoon (photo 4).

Bake at 365 F/185 C for 25 minutes. Check the readiness of the biscuit with a skewer or a knife: the biscuit is ready if the skewer or the knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

While the biscuit cools down, prepare plums. Divide each plum vertically in half. Discard stones and then slice every half into four segments. In general, you will get eight segments per plum and forty segments in total (photo 5). If you use smaller plums or cherries, then just quarter each fruit.

Increase oven heat to 392 F/200 C. Arrange plum pieces on top of the biscuit, close to each other and cut side down (photo 6).  Try not to overlap the fruit; otherwise, it will make the middle layer of the cake watery.

To make the meringue, whisk egg whites and salt on medium-high speed one minute, until soft peaks. Gradually add sugar and continue to whisk on high speed, until egg whites become stiff and glossy (photo 7). Add vanilla extract *, vinegar, and cornflour and whisk again. Finally, add roasted flaked almonds (photo 8) and gently mix with a spatula.

Distribute the meringue on top of plums. Swirl the meringue around in order to get rough waves and peaks (photo 9). Bring the cake in the oven. Immediately lower the oven temperature to 356 F/180 C and bake for 35 minutes, until the meringue has formed a slightly brown hard crust. Remove the cake from oven, and let cool down, still being in the cake pan, at least 30 minutes. Release the cake and peel parchment paper from sides of the cake (photo 10). 

Baking Tips to Make Plum and Almond Meringue Cake

1. Use seasonal ripe fruits that are not too soft.
2. Replace fresh plums with apricots, peaches, nectarines or cherries.
3. Use frozen unpitted fruits or any fruit jam as a spread for the middle layer to make the cake all year round.
4. Try to avoid fresh berries such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries since they are too watery for the cake.
5. If you are a coconut lover, switch roasted flaked almonds with shredded coconut * while making the meringue topping.
6. Replace 20 g all-purpose flour with the same amount of cocoa powder * to make a chocolate-coconut biscuit that would perfectly pair with a cherry layer instead of the plum one.
7. Watch out for the color of the meringue crust, while baking. You might want to get less or more browned crust.

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The recipe was adapted from https://ottolenghi.co.uk/. It was originally published in September, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.