Ginger Meringue Cake (Pavlova) w/Bananas, Ginger-Blueberry Sauce (Baked, Low Sugar-Fat)

[ Equipment: convection oven (preferred) or other LTB oven, baking sheet. For more information about the terminology in this recipe, see Low Temperature Baking: A Journey of 3 Paths ].

Between the 2 kinds of meringue cakes, Pavlova and angel food, the Pavlova had the advantage of being easier to prepare, or so I thought. Over the months, I baked many, varying the amounts of cornstarch, lemon juice, flavorings, all-sugar vs. sucralose-sugar blends, preparation procedures. The crust on a typical Pavlova sinks and cracks as it cools. The version presented here has a thinner crust that cracks only a little and doesn't sink much at all.



The picture above shows a maple Pavlova meringue with substantial cracking and sinking. The main differences between it and this recipe are the amount of cornstarch - only half as much in the Ginger cake and the reduced baking time - 30 minutes less for the ginger cake. Less cornstarch didn't appreciably alter the taste of the meringue (it still had the starchy characteristic of a Pavlova), but it did help the meringue hold its shape longer in the cooler oven. More cornstarch seemed to create a slicker batter.

Another reason for the spreading appeared to be the fact that I mixed in granulated white sugar instead of the caster sugar specified in almost all recipes. Granulated sugar didn't dissolve quickly, and the left-over grains may have caused the structure of whipped egg whites to collapse under heat. My solution was to add the sugar while the whites were still liquid, before they began drying out from the suspension of air bubbles from the whipping. The maple meringue also contained 100% sugar, which may have contributed to the fragile crispness that dammed batter as it formed.



Having said all that, the batter spread made larger disks of meringue, which could then serve more people. One time, it came out in a 10=inch round that was about 3/8-inch thick (see picture above). It easily could serve 8 by piling more fruit and whipped cream over it. The batter in this recipe resists spreading. The ginger cake started out as a 5-1/2 round and came out measuring 7 inches in diameter. For a larger cake, make a larger round with the meringue before baking.

The Pavlova is fat-free, gluten-free and low sugar. In place of the fat-free Cool Whip topping, I would beat evaporated skimmed milk until thick and then sweeten it with sucralose to taste. Those who don't like no=calorie sweeteners could increase the amount of granulated white sugar to 1/2 cup.

Makes 4 servings (up to 8 servings - see text)
- 130 calories per serving (4 servings)
- Oven Temperature: 250°F/121°C

Meringue Cake:

• 3 large egg whites (room temperature)
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sugar + 8 packets sucralose or 1/2 cup sugar (see text)
• 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons powdered ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Ginger Blueberry Sauce and Cake Topping:

• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 packet sucralose (see text)
• 1/8 teaspoon powdered ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• 1 cup no-fat sweetened whipped cream or no-fat Cool Whip topping

Ginger Blueberry Sauce Method:



1. In a heatproof dish, lightly mash 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries.



2. Add powdered ginger, sucralose and mix.



3. In a small dish, mix the cornstarch and water. Add to the blueberries and stir.



4. Microwave on HIGH for about 1-1/2 minutes until thickened.



5. Cool for a few minutes. Mix in 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries. Set aside.

Pavlova Method:


1. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites, lemon juice and salt until foamy.




2. Beat in sugar or sugar-sucralose blend in 3 or 4 portions and beat to the soft peak stage. Then add vanilla extract and beat to the stiff peak stage. Egg whites should still be glossy but not wet.

Note: granulated white sugar will not dissolve completely in stiffly beaten egg whites. Add the sugar at the foamy stage only or substitute a finely ground sugar.




3. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch, ginger, chili powder until well combined. Fold mixture into the egg whites.




4. Set a silicone baking mat on a baking sheet or cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently spoon the egg white batter onto the baking sheet and shape into 5-1/2 inch round. The top should be slightly concave.

The pavlova will spread a little as it bakes. In my oven, a 5-1/2 inch disk of meringue evens out to about 7-inches.



5. Bake at 250°F/121°C for 30 minutes. If the base of the meringue cake is a golden brown and will burn, reduce heat to 200°F/93°C and continue baking for another 30 - 45 minutes, until the surface of the cake is dry and the sides are lightly golden. Turn off the oven and allow the cake to cool completely in the oven.

If the cooled cake feels soggy on the surface, dry it out in a 200°F/93°C for 10 to 15 minutes.



6. Transfer the pavlova to a serving plate.



7. Cover the top of the cake with a layer of sliced bananas.



8. Spread on a layer of no-fat whipped cream or whipped topping.



9. Pour the ginger-blueberry sauce and blueberries over the whipped cream. Slice and serve.

Apple Celery Cake w/Roasted Carrots (Baked)

[ Equipment: convection oven (preferred) or other LTB oven, a 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 (inch) loaf pan. For more information about the terminology in this recipe, see Low Temperature Baking: A Journey of 3 Paths ].

A Waldorf salad inspired this cake of apple, celery and carrots. The truth is: I've never had a Waldorf salad, but the first time I saw it on a menu, I thought the flavors would make an intriguing cake. Because carrot cakes are fairly common, apples and celery make up the main character of this creation, accented with chopped up roasted carrots. There's an almost ethereal quality to this delicately flavored and smooth textured cake, so lightly sweet that it almost drives a craving to eat the entire cake at one sitting. I like to serve it with dots of tiny seeds (shown with sunflower seeds) on a streak of whipped cream for a crunchy contrast.

The base recipe was a pound cake from The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook, but modified. I took out their prune puree for my own applesauce and celery mash, cut back the sugar a bit and reduced over hydration. The low-temperature technique for roasting the carrots essentially steams them first and then roasts them to caramelize lightly and concentrate the sugars. For more intense flavor, increase the oven temperature to 300°F/149°C at the risk of higher acrylamide formation. I baked the cake in a convection oven. It should do well in a slow-cooker oven too, but will be less likely to brown on the top and may require another 10 minutes or so more baking time.

Makes one 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch loaf, 10 servings
- 1800 calories per loaf, 180 calories per serving
- Oven Temperature: 250°F/121°C

Cake:

• 2 to 3 stalks of celery ( to make 1/4 cup finely chopped celery)
• 1/2 cup sweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup butter or vegetable oil spread (see text)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 large egg
• 1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2-1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1/3 cup chopped roasted carrots (see below, see text)

Roasted Carrots:

• 3 carrots
• 1 to 2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Topping:

• sweetened whipped cream or Cool Whip whipped topping
• sunflower seeds for sprinkling
• powdered cinnamon

Roasted Carrots Method:



1. Slice carrots about 1/4 inch thick.



2. Line baking tray with aluminum foil. Put carrots on foil and toss with vegetable oil.



3. Crimp foil into a pouch.



4. Bake at 250°F/121°C for 1 hour.



5. Open pouch and flatten foil. Spread carrots to a single layer. Continue baking for another 30 minutes.



6. Chop carrots into 1/4 to 1/2 inch bits.

Cake Method:



1. Finely chop celery in a food processor with a blunt blade (the same blade used for chopping nuts). Processing with a blunt blade bruises the celery and expresses celery juice. Do NOT puree.



2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon until well combined.



3. In a large bowl, mix the applesauce, chopped celery, butter and sugar until well combined and the butter has been broken down into tiny flecks - about 4 to 5 minutes with an electric mixer on low setting 1 or 2.



4. Add milk, whole egg and egg whites. Continue mixing for another 1 to 2 minutes.



5. Mix in flour in 3 or 4 portions to form a thick batter.



6. In a small bowl, coat chopped roasted carrots in 1 to 2 teaspoons of all-purpose flour. Fold carrots into batter.



7. Pour batter into a 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 2-1/2 inch loaf pan. Smooth surface of batter with a spoon or spatula.



8. Cover top of loaf pan with aluminum foil, crimping down edges. With a knife or the pointed end of a bamboo skewer, cut out a rectangle in the foil, leaving a 1-inch border. With scissors, at each corner of the rectangle, snip a 1/2-inch diagonal cut.



9. Bake until cake has risen to almost touch the foil (about 30 minutes). With 2 spoons or forks, lift the foil flaps up and away from the cake. Continue baking for another 40 minutes or until the internal temperature of the cake is around 200°F/93°C.



10. Remove foil. Cool for about 30 minutes.



11. Un-mold and continue cooling on rack.



12. Slice and serve.



13. This slice was topped with a whipped topping (Cool Whip or a sweetened whipped cream), a dash of cinnamon and a sprinkling of sunflower seeds.

Miele Lemon Pudding Cake (Steam Baked)

[ Equipment: steam oven / convection oven (for steam baking) / boiling water steamer, a 6-1/7 (inch) baking dish or cake pan. For more information about the terminology in this recipe, see Low Temperature Baking: A Journey of 3 Paths ].


This lovely melt-in-mouth cake has a top layer of lemon-y custard goodness with lip puckering lemon flavor thanks to a heavy dose of lemon juice and lemon extract. It's poured into the pan as a single batter and separates into 2 layers as it bakes with the pudding layer on the bottom. Miele prepared the original recipe for their own line of steam ovens. That recipe made 16 mini cakes. I adapted it for a single 2-serving "large" cake for steam baking in a convection oven.

The only changes I made to Miele's ingredients roster was substituting lemon extract for lemon zest and some pinches of salt to bring out the cake's sweetness and a dash of lemon juice in the egg white to stabilize it for whipping. I also changed the mixing procedure. To get that potent, bright lemon flavor, the lemon juice went into the batter after the milk had been combined with the fat. I tried one cake where the lemon juice reacted with the milk in a small bowl first (to make a sour milk), and it wrecked the lemon flavor.

The amount of flour appeared to determine the size of the pudding layer. The less flour in the batter, the more custard formed. Up to 2 tablespoons of flour in the batter still left a thin, sticky coating of pudding.

The maximum temperature of Miele's standard steam ovens is 212°F/100°C, so the cake could have been baked in a stove-top steamer too. I steam baked it in a high humidity convection oven at 250°F/121°C. I also made one in low humidity oven. The two versions came out slightly different, with the most notable difference being that the pudding layer on the low humidity version was more liquid and the cake a little denser. Once the whipped cream and strawberries go on, the differences disappear.


Makes one 6-1/2 inch cake, 2 servings
- 275 calories per serving
- Oven Temperature: 250°F/121°C (steam baking) or 212°F/100°C (steaming)

• 1 large egg, separated
• 2 tablespoons + 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 + 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/16 + 1/16 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil spread
• 1/4 cup milk
• 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 4 strawberries, sliced in half
• 1/2 cup Cool Whip or sweetened whipped cream

1. In a medium bowl, beat the egg white, 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract, 1/16 teaspoon salt until frothy.



2. Sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of sugar in 2 portions, beating until glossy with stiff peaks. Set aside.



3. In another bowl, cream softened butter or vegetable spread with 2 tablespoons sugar.



4. Mix in the egg yolk and 1/16 teaspoon salt.



5. Whisk in 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract and milk.



6. Whisk in 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Do NOT add the lemon juice at the same time as the milk in step 5, because it will affect the lemon flavor.



7. Whisk in the flour.



8. Stir in in 2 tablespoons of the beaten egg white to give the egg mixture a tiny bit of volume.



9. Fold in the remaining beaten egg white. Pour batter into a 6-1/2 baking dish or pan.



10.

Steam Oven or Boiling Water Steamer: Pre-heat oven according to instructions or bring water in steamer to a boil.

Convection Oven Steam Baking (details here): Fill 1/2 of water tray with boiling water. Do NOT cover the water tray. Preheat oven to reach an internal temperature of 250°F/121°C.



11. Place pan on trivet.



12. If steam baking, bake for 30 minutes or until surface is dry and slightly cracked. If steaming in a boiling water steamer or steam oven, check for doneness after 15 to 20 minutes.



13. Cool. Slide knife around edge of cake to loosen it and unmold onto a plate.



14. Spread top of cake with a layer of Cool Whip or sweetened whipped cream.



15. Slice strawberries and place on top of cake.



16. Slice and serve.