Pineapple Meringue Shortcake
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Ingredients

For the Shortcake

  • 55 g butter
  • 115 g caster sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla essence
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 115 g flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 75 ml creamy milk

For the Meringue

  • 4 egg whites
  • Pinch salt
  • 225 g sugar
  • 2 tbsp flaked or slivered almonds

For the Filling

  • 1 cup pineapple pieces*
  • 1 cup cream
  • * tinned, or fresh pineapple cooked with a little sugar and water, or any other slightly tart fruit. Apricot purée works well.

For the Shortcake

  • 2 oz butter
  • 4 oz caster sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla essence
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 4 oz flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 5 tbsp creamy milk

For the Meringue

  • 4 egg whites
  • Pinch salt
  • 8 oz sugar
  • 2 tbsp flaked or slivered almonds

For the Filling

  • 1 cup pineapple pieces*
  • 1 cup cream
  • * tinned, or fresh pineapple cooked with a little sugar and water, or any other slightly tart fruit. Apricot purée works well.

Pineapple Meringue Shortcake

Two layers of shortcake with meringue topping, are sandwiched together with poached pineapple and whipped cream - the bottom layer goes meringue-side down on the plate and the top layer, with the slivered almonds, meringue-side up. This dessert cake appeared in Plunket's 1959 'Triple-Tested Recipe Book' written by Thelma Christie and it's also in my favourite baking book 'Talking about Cakes with an Irish and Scottish Accent', by Miss Margaret Bates who made it with strawberries and described it as having 'a good eating quality.' I agree. It is not complicated to make, it looks spectacular and it cuts easily into 12 servings.

Getting ready

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF / 180ºC. Grease two 9 inch / 23cm shallow round tins with butter and line the bases with circles of baking paper. Bring the eggs and the butter to room temperature. Sift the flour and baking powder.

Mixing and baking

  1. Cream together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy, add the vanilla and then beat in the egg yolks one at a time.
  2. Fold in the sifted flour alternately with the milk and divide the mixture between the two tins, spreading it our evenly. It will be a fairly thin layer.
  3. Beat the egg whites with the salt until they are stiff, but not dry and then beat in the sugar gradually - about a tablespoon at a time. When the meringue is glossy, divide it between the two cake tins and sprinkle one cake with the almonds.
  4. Bake for about 45 minutes until the meringue is lightly browned and the almonds are toasted. Cool on a rack and then turn out carefully. Don't worry if the meringue crumbles a little - this is part of the charm of the cake.

Getting ready

  1. Put the non-almond cake meringue side down on a serving plate, spread with the whipped cream and arrange the pineapple evenly across the top. Put on the other shortcake, meringue side up and dust with sifted icing sugar before serving it to your admiring guests.