Lemon Meringue Roulade

Lemon Meringue Roulade with home-made lemon curd.

Deliciously light and lemony!

My Pinterest board ‘Bakes & Makes‘ features so many lemon-flavoured desserts I may have to rename the board ‘All things Lemon’ and that’s putting it mildly as I’m really rather obsessed!

So yeah, this lemon meringue roulade caught my eye via an email from Good To Know.

The photography sold me (as if that’s an excuse) and I just had to make it this past weekend, Sunday to be precise. I made and ate a slice just before I cooked leftover-curry Biryani. Not only in my mind does dessert comes first, especially when said dessert is lemon flavoured.

The original recipe uses shop-bought lemon curd however, to make my lemon meringue roulade extra special I home-made the lemon curd and sort of halved this recipe.

Again for extra specialness I filled the roulade with whipped double cream opposed to whipping cream – which has less fat. Either works well but you know if you’re going to do dessert, do it right!

I admit this roulade looks complicated but with the help of an electric whisk to make the meringue and whip the cream, all you have to do is stir to make the curd, spread it over the meringue which you’ve turned out onto a sugared sheet of baking paper, followed by whipped-to-soft-peaks whipped cream then roll the roll, you following?!

The term roulade originates from the French word “rouler”, meaning “to roll”. Wikipedia

It’s as easy as pie, lemon meringue pie, sorry I digress.

Lemon Meringue Roulade

The trickiest part is rolling the roulade. It didn’t help that I was taking photos whilst trying to roll at the same time. Someone can’t wait for their children to grow up and become of some assistance (did that sound harsh?…).

Some of the whipped cream may have splurged out whilst rolling – ooops! So if you don’t like scooping up lemon curd rippled cream and eating it (who doesn’t?!) use less, I’d say about 250ml rather than 300ml.

You may get a major crack or two in your roulade *sad face* it’s not the end of the world, suck it up.

The taste more than makes up for the minor fault in its beauty and did I mention how light it is? super light meringue that’s just crisp on the outside with a soft and springy inside.

So there we have it, sweet cloud-like meringue swirling around softly whipped cream and tart, home-made lemon curd. Can it get any better?!

Ingredients

• • 2 unwaxed lemons, zest and juice
  • 100 g golden caster sugar
  • 50 g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  • 2 large eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk

• • 4 large egg whites
  • 150 g golden caster sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cornflour
  • icing sugar, for dusting

• • lemon curd (see above)
  • 250-300 ml double cream (or whipping cream)
  • 2 tablespoon icing sugar

• lemon zest *optional

Instructions

1. 1. Put the lemon zest and juice, the sugar and the butter into a heatproof bowl. Sit the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Stir the mixture every now and again until all of the butter has melted.
   2. Lightly whisk the eggs and egg yolk and stir them into the lemon mixture. Whisk until all of the ingredients are well combined, then leave to cook for 10 minutes, whisking every now and again, until the mixture is creamy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
   3. Remove the lemon curd from the heat pour into a heat-proof bowl, cover with cling-film (plastic wrap) – make sure the film is directly in contact with the curd so no ‘skin’ forms. Leave to cool at room temperature then refrigerate until needed.

1. 1. Line a 33 x 21cm (13 x 81/2in) or a 12½ x 9 in Swiss roll tin with baking parchment
   2. Pre-heat oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas mark 2. To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Add 1 tbsp caster sugar, and whisk again to form stiff, but soft peaks. Add half the remaining sugar and whisk until stiff and shiny. Quickly whisk in the rest of the sugar and the cornflour. Spoon the mixture into the tin and level the surface.
   3. Bake the meringue for 45 mins in the centre of the oven until it’s just firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool, uncovered, for at least 1 hour.

1. Turn the meringue out on to a sheet of baking parchment, dusted with icing sugar and peel away the lining paper. Spread over the lemon curd. Whip the cream with the icing sugar until it forms soft peaks and spread over the lemon curd.
2. Roll up the meringue, from the nearest short side, using the paper to help roll it up. Transfer to a serving plate sprinkle with lemon zest and keep chilled until ready to serve.Best cut with a serrated knife.

Notes

Summary

Article Name

Lemon Meringue Roulade