Plum Berry Meringue

Episode 92: Marvelous Plum Meringue and Fall Cookbooks

Andrea Ballard

Cooked peaches? Why not! Andrea’s singing a new tune after trying Ina Garten’s Fresh Peach Cake. Not only did Andrea embrace cooked fruit, she followed the recipe directions to the letter, and sifted the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. This cake turned out beautifully and is just as good for breakfast as dessert.

Stefin’s eyeing the Nectarine, Apricot and Earl Grey Tea Loaf from the August Waitrose magazine. Back in Episode 61 our hosts loved the London Fog Shortbread cookies; perhaps this is another use for that delicious tea in their baking repertoire.

Unexpectedly Good Vegan Dessert

Our hosts move on to reviewing the Traybaked Plum Berry Meringue from Waitrose. Andrea experienced all the feelings making this recipe: highs and lows, ups and downs. The highs were finding a Flavor Grenade variety of plums from a farm in Wapato, Washington, and successfully making Aquafaba for a vegan meringue topping using chickpea liquid. The lows were cooking the meringue for either too long, or at too high of a temperature – her meringue disappeared in all but 1/4 of the dish! If you make this dish using Aquafaba, either lower the temperature to around 200 F, or cook the fruit partway and then spoon the Aquafaba on top toward the end of baking, and perhaps you will have more success.

Andrea’s fruit was also extremely runny, which she thought was melted chickpea juice, but Stefin confirmed she had the same issue. Despite that extra juice (which she poured off and boiled down to more of a syrup), Stefin loved the flavor and style of this elegant dessert with its deep vanilla flavor and crispy yet marshmallow-y meringue topping. Both hosts feel you could add your favorite thickener (tapioca, corn flour) to the filling to thicken it up while it bakes without adversely affecting your meringue topping.

Classic British Crumble

Next week’s bake along is an Apricot, Peach and Blackberry Crumble from Diana Henry at The Telegraph. This quintessential British pudding really takes advantage of the all available late-summer fruits. Stefin is curious about the crumble topping, quite different than the version with oats and brown sugar that she’s used to making. Stay tuned to see how this one turns out!

Fall Cookbook Roundup

Finally, our hosts chatted about some of the new fall cookbooks that are putting a smile on their faces — from familiar bakers to new finds, here’s just a few of the ones they are looking forward to.

Listeners, what new fall releases are you dying to read?

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