Cherry Cake with Meringue
Ingredients
For the shortcrust pastry:
- ½ cup butter cold, cubed
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 ¾ cups flour
- ¼ cup ground almonds
For the filling:
- 1 lb cherries
- 1 ¼ cups cherry juice
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 package instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
For the meringue:
- 3 eggs
- ¾ cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a bowl, cream together the butter, powdered sugar, egg, and salt using a hand mixer. Add the flour and almonds and knead everything together until a dough forms.
- Shape the dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Let it chill in the refrigerator for an hour.
- Grease a tart pan with butter and dust it with flour.
- Roll out the dough on a floured work surface and place it in the tart pan. Cut off the excess dough and prick the bottom of the dough several times with a fork. Line with a piece of parchment paper and fill with dried beans or rice for blind baking.
- Bake for 15 minutes, remove the parchment paper with the beans/rice. Bake the crust for another 10 minutes.
- Wash and pit the cherries. Mix the pudding mix with 5 tablespoons of the cherry juice and sugar. Bring the remaining cherry juice to a boil, add the pudding mix, and simmer for 1 minute.
- Add the cherries and simmer for about 3 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and let the mixture cool.
- Pour the cherry mixture into the pie crust. Bake the cherry cake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes.
- For the meringue layer, place the egg whites in a bowl and beat until stiff. Gradually add the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
- Spread the meringue on the cooled cherry cake and create swirls and peaks with a spatula. Brown the meringue with a kitchen torch until golden.
Notes
If you don't have a kitchen torch, you can spread the meringue directly on the cherries and bake it along with the cake.