Rhubarb and Pistachio Meringue Cake
The one and only Stroma Sinclair brings us a Special Guest Easter bake!
Baking scares me. But Easter is the perfect time to bake! Long weekends... Light afternoons… Lucky for you, this week pastry chef extraordinaire Stroma Sinclair (formerly of Spring, now at Leila’s Shop) is our Special Guest, and she has brought us something triumphant for the occasion. Stop the show! This Rhubarb and Pistachio Meringue Cake demands it. By way of thanks for your support I also have a 10% discount at Sous Chef for you, valid on EVERYTHING. I’ve listed my top 10 Sous Chef goodies below, but please tell me what you get (if you use it), I’m nosey… Finally, I’ve thrown in a recipe for Wild Garlic Tagliatelle, which is a great thing to make with any leftover egg yolks.
The truth of the matter is that baking is not my forté. Sweet cookery scares me, but I love it. I’m a truly impatient person, whose ‘toxic trait’ is being extremely hard on myself, and so spending a lot of time waiting to find out whether I’ve fucked something up or not is terrifying to me.
Lately though, I’ve been finding my sweet tooth is growing more and more fervent. I want to experiment with how far I can take that sweet tooth in the kitchen. So I’m chuffed to say that baking maestro Stroma heeded that call, and has brought us an Easter showstopper that brought me joy to recreate. I hope it does the same for you.
As you can see from my far-from-perfect recreation (above), as compared to Stroma’s towering masterpiece (further above) - this bake is forgiving and delicious, no matter your baking skillset. I hope you will feel immense pride when you make it.
Meringue is a substance I have often dismissed as too sweet for my tastes, but Stroma’s pistachio meringue brings a toasty nuttiness to the table that - paired with the tart rhubarb - has flipped my prejudice on its head. I mean - WOW - this cake is an almighty triumph. I hope you agree.
Stroma says:
“This meringue stack can be adapted through the seasons: hazelnut and raspberry, almond and strawberry, walnut and apple! Pistachios are pricey, but you can sub them for almonds, or leave them out. The good thing about this recipe is you can do a lot of the prep in advance - the meringue and rhubarb can be cooked the day before construction.
You will need some sort of electric whisk - a mixer or an electric hand whisk works nicely. This bake is a great way to celebrate rhubarb season, and a nice fruity one to give you a break from all the Easter chocolate!”
BIG THANKS TO STROMA.
Follow Stroma on Instagram here to see more of her baking wizadry!