Nut Meringue Cake With Passionfruit Curd

Stephanie's Nut Meringue Cake. I made this because with a bit of clever thinking, it was easily gluten-free. My sister-in-law has a gluten-free diet, and it's nice to share foods that she can also enjoy. I just ensure that I buy gluten-free cornflour now, which is a slightly different colour to the one I used to use, but definitely has the same properties and function. I think it's the White Wings one that I use now. I had some passionfruit curd in the freezer - there is a story that goes with this too. My darling husband decided to have an early breakfast while I was showering yesterday. He came upstairs, stating proudly "Oh that passionfruit curd was yum!" It was 4 in the morning on Anzac Day. All I could say was "How much did you eat? That was supposed to be my filling for the cake" (Plus expletives) and "Since when do you eat stuff in the fridge without checking first?" It was probably the first time he did it, and I think it will never happen again. Poor bloke. Fortunately, I made the first layer a little thinner, and then I made do with what I had. It worked out ok.

Nut Meringue Cake (Printable Recipe)
adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion, pg 619

Passionfruit and Coconut Sponge Fingers

A friend recently mentioned to me that she had tried to make some lamingtons and had a great deal of trouble making the sponge. She said it turned out ‘like an omelette with sugar on top’, which did not sound very appealing. I had never tried to make a sponge before and with a glut off eggs in the fridge, I thought it was a perfect chance to give one a go.

I found that the sponge worked out very well, and while it did smell a little ‘eggy’ cooking in the oven, it did not thankfully, taste like and omelette when cooked. With the idea of lamingtons planted firmly in my head, I thought that would be a great way to use the sponge. I failed to remember that I had given away all my cocoa, so the sponge instead became coconut and passionfruit sponge fingers. I used up some passionfruit curd lurking in the fridge and made a simple coconut icing for the top with desiccated coconut, icing sugar and water.