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Russian meringue cake "The Flight"
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Russian meringue cake "The Flight"

Crispy meringue cake layers with aromatic peanuts and popular buttercream "Charlotte" create a flavorful unforgettable duo that makes up the Russian cake "The Flight". The meringue cake is a classic cake from the Soviet era. It tastes crunchy, nutty and sweet. At the same time, the cake is airy and light, just like the flight of a bird. The recipe for the peanut meringue cake is very simple. For this you need only a few common ingredients.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Russian
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours 20 minutes
Cooling time 3 hours
Servings 12

Equipment

  • piping bag (alternative)

Ingredients

for the meringue dough

  • 100 g peanuts (roasted and chopped)
  • egg whites of 4 eggs
  • approx. 260 g sugar (twice as much as egg whites)
  • vanilla
  • 1 pinch of salt

for the cream

  • 220 g butter (room temperature)
  • 120 ml milk
  • 130 g sugar
  • yolk of 2 eggs
  • 1 tbsp cognac

for sprinkling

  • 40 g peanuts
  • 3 - 4 meringue bumps

for decorating

  • some cocoa powder (alternative)

Instructions

Preparation of the meringue dough

  • Weigh egg whites and take twice the amount of sugar. Beat egg whites, sugar, vanilla and salt until stiff and glossy.
  • Pour 1 - 2 tablespoons of meringue into a piping bag and fold chopped peanuts into the remaining meringue.
  • Form two circles of the peanut meringue mixture, each about 20 cm in diameter, on a baking tray lined with baking paper. You can either first draw the circles on the baking paper with a pencil and then spread the meringue mixture inside, or you can place the edge of a Ø 20 cm springform pan on the baking paper, spread half of the meringue mixture inside, then carefully remove the edge and repeat the same for the second circle. Using the meringue without peanuts in a piping bag, make small meringue bumps or flowers on the baking sheet next to the two peanut meringue cake layers.
  • Dry the two peanut meringue cake layers and the meringue bumps in a preheated oven at 80 °C convection oven for approx. 2 hours. Then take out the meringue sticks, turn the two cake layers and dry them for another 1 hour. Let them cool down afterwards.

Preparation of the cream

  • Mix egg yolks, milk and sugar in a thick-bottomed saucepan until homogeneous. Put the saucepan on the stove and bring the mixture to the boil, stirring constantly. The sugar must have dissolved before the mixture starts to boil. Then boil the mixture, stirring, for about 5 minutes until it thickens slightly (about the consistency of sweetened condensed milk), remove it from the heat and let the milk syrup cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
  • Beat softened butter for about 4 - 5 minutes until creamy and white.
  • Gradually add the milk syrup in small portions, beating each time until a homogeneous creamy mass. Add the cognac last and whip briefly to a homogeneous cream. (For this, note the detailed tips and tricks for preparing the cake at the top of the post).

Preparing the meringue

  • Set aside some of the cream for decorating. Spread the two meringue layers with the cream and stack them on top of each other. Then spread the cream around the edges of the cake.
  • Chop some of the meringue and peanuts together and sprinkle over the edge of the cake.
  • Decorate the cake as you like with the set aside amount of cream (you can color a small amount of it with cocoa powder) and the meringue. Chill the meringue for at least 3 hours.

Notes

  • For the meringue mass, smoke twice as much sugar as the egg whites weigh.
  • If nuts are crushed in a blender, make sure that no oil comes out of the nuts. The oil may later cause the egg whites to collapse.
  • Fold the chopped peanuts into the egg white mixture very carefully to keep it stiff and glossy. Do not stir the mixture too long, but only briefly.
  • Do not let the finished meringue rest, but process or bake immediately.
  • The oven temperature when drying the two meringue cake layers must not exceed 100 °C top and bottom heat or 80 °C convection oven.
  • For the meringue cream, 1 whole egg can be used instead of two egg yolks.
  • To boil the milk syrup, use a saucepan with a thick bottom so that the syrup does not burn.
  • Butter, the milk syrup and cognac must be room warm and all three about the same temperature before whipping into the cream so they can combine well.
  • Cognac in the cream is alternative.
  • Note the detailed tips and tricks for DIY Russian meringue cake "The Flight" at the top of the post.