Monday, August 17, 2009

Meringue stack with chestnut puree

I had high hopes for this white snowy treat with chestnut filling.

Sometimes high expectations aren't met and you are left feeling disappointed and somewhat foolish. Although the chestnut puree was only a minor leaguer in term of ratio, I expected that it would shine through, but sadly, the alcohol and lemon dominated with their alliance to the eggy meringue; the trio were not sweet or complimenting. My darling little chestnut puree will have to try its luck elsewhere with less overbearing ingredients.


ease: 5/5.
prep time:
12mins.
cooking time: 1hour & 5mins.
total: 1 hour & 17mins.

taste: 3/5. The filling didn't thicken despite whipping, perhaps whipping the cream and then folding in the other ingredients before whipping again would improve the texture.
The taste of the filling though wasn't very pleasant. The bitter alcohol from the Bailey's was the most overwhelming followed by the acidic lemon - couldn't taste the chestnut at all. As the filling wasn't thick it was almost completely lost in the very eggy meringue. The texture was very spongy and mine had actually browned 10minutes short of the cooking time. I think if it was white it wouldn't have been firm enough to slice and move.
Overall the flavours didn't appeal to me and it was a little bit of a failure for me.

would I make it again: No - didn't deliver on taste.

recipe: Meringue stack with chestnut puree from delicious. - December 2008, Page 136

5 comments:

  1. this looks beautiful! sorry to hear about the chestnut puree and good luck on pairing it with something else in the future. i can't wait to see what you do with it :)

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  2. That looks so good and dreamlike! A heavenly dessert!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. This looks so amazing!
    I love chestnut sooo much!
    I've been trying to find chestnut puree everywhere this summer but I can't find it anywhere...

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  4. how disappointing! It stills looks very attractive though, I kinda like the runny middle.

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  5. This looks really great! But if you want to let your chestnut puree really shine, try the italian "montblanc" - to the chestnut puree add just a little bit of rum and some cacao, pipe it on a plate like a little "mountain" and cover with sweetened whipped cream, add some Marrons Glaces to top :) I have tried the version with a thin meringue base and it's delicious as well :)

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