Marble Meringue Cake

INGREDIENTS

makes a 22 x 21cm cake

CAKE

200 g butter
1 1/2 cUPS caster sugAR
1 tsP vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 cUPS SELF-RAISING flour
3/4 cUP milk
3-4 drops each pink, purple, blue
1/2 cUP frozen raspberries

meringue

3 EGG WHITES
2/3 CUP CASTER SUGAR
1 TSP CREAM OF TARTAR
2 TBSP COCOA

FOR THE CENTRE LAYER

300 ml thickened cream
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp COCOA

FOR THE TOP

1 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 cup raspberry jam (not needed, but I had it in the pantry and no one was eating it!)
300 ml thickened cream
1/4 cup caster sugar
sparkle sugar, as you please

Method

Cake

Combine the butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until pale and creamy. 

Add eggs, 1 at a time. 

Use wooden spoon to mix flour and milk, only doing half at a time. 

Divide the batter into 4, tint 3 of the batches with a couple of drops of the colours you wish and add the raspberries to the plain batch. Dollop batter into a paper lined cake tin - we used a heart shape tin 22 x 21 x 7.5cm

Preheat the oven to 160’c fan forced or 180’c not fan.

Meringue

whisk the egg whites until soft peaks begin to form. Slowly start to add the sugar a few tbs at a time until stiff peaks are glossy. Mix in the cream of tartar. 

Fold through the cocoa so it is mixed but streaky. 

Dollop onto of raw batter, making the top nice and peaky. 

Bake for 50mins uncovered, until the meringue begins to brown and then continue baking (lightly covered with foil) for a further 30mins until a skewer comes out clean. 

Allow to cool slightly before removing tin. Allow to cool completely before cutting and layering. 

Cut the cake 2cm from the base all the way around and through. 

Be careful to not damage the crispy meringue top. 

For the centre layer

Whip the cream with the sugar until it holds the peaks, add the cocoa and mix till combined. 

Spread even on the bottom layer of the cake. 

For the top

Heat the raspberries and jam over low heat till melted and combined. Allow to cool. 

Whip the cream with the sugar until it holds the peaks. 

Layer dollops of cream on top of cake and drizzle with the compote.