White Currant and Cream Vacherin

Just occasionally, there will be a glut of egg whites lurking in the fridge, and there are many ways of pimping a standard meringue!   This is my favourite – a Vacherin - with several thin layers of meringue.    I had home grown white currants and no idea what to use them in, so this was perfect:  a beautiful double decker confection of meringue, cream with Greek yoghurt (a concession to health) and delicate white currants.  The white currants are like a delicate gooseberry, and the combination is absolute heaven!   We had a dear friend to lunch at the end of lockdown, and he and my husband nearly demolished a pudding for 6 in two helpings.  

White Currant and Cream Vacherin

White Currant Vacherin

1lb/400g white currants or green gooseberries – keep a few sprigs/berries for decoration
8oz/200g caster sugar

5 egg whites
10oz/280g caster sugar
2tsp cornflour
1tsp vanilla
½ tsp vinegar
 
3/4 pint/12floz/400ml double cream
3/4 pint/12floz/400ml Greek yoghurt

Pick over the currants/gooseberries and remove leaves and stems where possible.   Put into a pan, add 3 tbsp water and sugar and simmer the fruit until soft.   Purée in a mixer and sieve the purée to take out the seeds.  Allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 130 deg C.   Inscribe 9-10” circles on two pieces of baking parchment to act as a guide (or put a 10” circular tin base underneath each one as you load on the meringue), and place on two baking trays.   Then whisk up the egg whites until stiff, adding the sugar gradually, plus the essence, vinegar and cornflour.  Spread the mixture equally onto the three circles. 

Bake the meringues until they are not soft and squidgy – this can take up to an hour and a half.   If they start to go too brown, cover with a hat of foil.    Cool.

To assemble, whip the cream, add the Greek yoghurt.  Peel the parchment off the meringues, and put the first layer on the serving dish.   Use half of the cream/yoghurt mixture and half of the purée, swirling the purée into the mix, but try to keep it from mixing entirely (top tip – the cream layer slides off if you put the purée on first!).  Then add the next layer and do the same.   Finish with the fruits and leave the pudding in a cool place to soften for up to half an hour before serving.