Sticky Plum Meringue Cake

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A perfect combination of textures - soft sponge, sticky plum compote, and mallowy meringue

Course: Baking, Dessert, sweet

Cuisine: British

Keyword: cake, eggs, flour, meringue, plums, sugar

Servings: 8

Ingredients

For the Victoria Sponge

115 g unsalted butter softened
115 g sugar
3 eggs
115 g self-raising flour

For the Plum Compote

5 medium plums
A few generous squeezes of honey
1 orange
4-5 cloves
A sprinkle of cinnamon

For the Meringue

3 egg whites
150 g sugar

Instructions

For the Victoria Sponge

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/360°F. Grease a cake tin (a loose-based tin is best) with butter and line the base with a disc of baking parchment.
Make sure the butter is soft before using! Beat it with the sugar for about five minutes until really pale and fluffy.
Beat together the eggs and add a tablespoon to the butter and sugar at a time, beating after each addition. If the mixture begins to curdle add a tablespoon of the pre-weighed flour and beat to combine.
Once all the egg is whisked in, sift over the flour and fold with a large metal spoon.
Pour the batter into the tin, level with a spatula and bake for 20 mins. Check with a skewer or gently poking the centre, if it springs back it is cooked. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Meanwhile, make the compote.

For the Plum Compote

Chop the plums and remove the stones, then add to a saucepan with some honey, the spices and juice from half the orange. Heat gently, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Once the honey sizzles and the pan looks dry add more honey and orange juice. The plums will slowly soften. Mash them with the wooden spoon.
When they are looking soft and sticky turn off the heat. Pour on top of the cake and spread to the edges evenly.

For the Meringue

Pour the egg whites into a clean bowl and whisk, starting at low speed and increasing to high, until it has formed stiff peaks. Lift out the beater and hold them upside down. If the peak of meringue points upwards it is done.
Add a tablespoon of sugar and beat to combine. Do this twice more – add a tablespoon of sugar per egg white – before pouring in the remaining sugar while you beat the meringue.
Put the cake back in the cake tin (to prevent the sponge drying out in the oven). Dollop around the circumference of the cake and then in the centre before spreading out into pillow mounds.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the top third of the oven until crisp and golden. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes (make a cup of tea, the perfect accompaniment) before gently easing out of the tin and slicing up wedges of gooey meringue and sponge.

Notes

Variations: Any other fruit will work as long as it’s soft enough to make a compote, for example, berries, apples or mango. Think of different spices or herbs to compliment the flavours – maybe vanilla, mint, ginger or lemon.
Sift 10g cocoa powder over the sugary stiff-peaked egg whites (end of step 9) and swirl through to make a chocolatey marble meringue. Sift another 10g over the cake before you put it in the oven.