White Cake with Meringue Frosting

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To honor a special birthday today - or tomorrow (born February 29th) I decided to post a birthday cake my mom used to make. She usually filled it with a chocolate or vanilla pudding, but in her instructions to me, which I wrote down as a teen, she gave the option to fill it with pudding or fruit.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 egg whites, beaten

Fruit filling:

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 Tbsp instant vanilla powder or 1 tsp sugar
• sliced strawberries

Method:

1. Grease an 8 inch springform pan. Dust lightly with flour and tap to spread. You can also use two greased 8 inch pans - lined with wax paper and greased again - before dividing the batter.
2. In mixing bowl, mix sugar and egg yolks well. I like to use a wooden spoon. Add liquids.
3. Stir in combined dry ingredients.
4. Stir in about 1/2 cup of the stiffly beaten egg whites, then, using a rubber spatula, fold in the rest to make a light fluffy batter.
5. Pour into pan/ pans and bake at 325 F, 40 - 45 minutes or until golden on top. Less time if using two pans. Run a knife around the edge and let cool for 10 minutes before removing rim.
6. Invert onto serving plate and remove bottom, if using springform. Peel off wax paper if not using a springform pan.

To assemble the cake:

1. Once cooled, cut through the cake, using a serrated knife.
2. Beat whipping cream, adding optional vanilla pudding powder near the end to stabilize.
3. Layer half the whipping cream on cake, followed by a layer of strawberries and the rest of the whipped cream. Add top cake layer.

Meringue Frosting:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 egg whites
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice

1. In small pot, over medium heat, bring water and sugar to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. While it continues to boil, beat egg whites in a heat proof mixing bowl until almost stiff.
2. Boil sugar and water, stirring once in a while, for about 4 - 5 minutes or until clear and syrup like. It will be very bubbly. (Reading 240 F using a candy thermometer)  If you do not have a thermometer it's okay.You can test for when it's ready by dropping a drop off the spoon into a cup of cold water. It should turn solid.
3. Slowly and carefully pour syrup  into beaten egg whites, with mixer going medium to high. Beat for about 3 minutes. Add cornstarch and lemon juice and beat another minute.
4. Spread on top and sides of cake. Sprinkle immediately with toasted coconut and almonds or colored coconut or leave as is. To color coconut, drop about three drops of food coloring into a large jar. Add 1 Tbsp of water and 1 cup of shredded coconut. Shake and adjust to personal preference. Add more coconut to lighten and more color to darken.


Extra tips:

I'm hoping that the pictures show you that this is not difficult. The cake is easy to mix. It may fall slightly after taking it out of the oven, but that's okay.

The meringue frosting is easy but needs a bit of patience. If you don't  cook the syrup long enough before adding it to the meringue, it will not stiffen up. Keep beating longer if peaks do not form after three minutes. If you cook it too long the texture of the frosting will be grainy.