Alison from Eau Claire, WI (2018 Week 4: Desserts)

Baker

Alison

Location

Eau Claire, WI

Baking Challenge

Layered Meringue Dessert

Give your dessert a clever name – and tell us about your recipe.

Le-Mango Nut Meringue Cake. This is four coconut meringue shells layered with coconut cookie, lemon mousse and mango gel. Decorated with candied lemon peel and dried mango. Very mild, delicate blend of flavors. Almost like a sherbet. Great blend of textures, from creamy and chewy to crispy.

What was the biggest surprise during your baking journey? Did you use any unconventional approaches? What did you learn along the way? Tell us about it!

This took two days to make. I made three chilled three layer mouse/gel cakes to go between the 4 mirangue crisps. I'd never make this this tall again. Two layers were perfect…pretty sure I misunderstood the challenge. I thought about structure since I wanted a layered mousse. I'd modify the crust a bit. It wasn't stable enough. Then my fix…turned into a mess of cream dripping out. Not the look I was going for but not horrid.

How did you add a Wisconsin twist to your flavors or decoration?

used cheese in the lemon mousse.

How did you do?

Feeling humbled.