When I originally read the description of the recipe I thought to myself, "Wow, this is going to be just fabulous!" Creme anglaise, meringue and caramel...how could you go wrong with those components? Well, I think this is the first of the TWD recipes that didn't "wow" me. In fact, I decided not to serve it to our friends who were coming for dessert. I used the creme anglaise over a cinnamon crumb cake that was from a box. Gasp! I know! But I liked it better than the Floating Islands.
The creme anglaise turned out pretty good. I watched it on the thermometer and as it got into the 160's I thought it looked perfect. I should have followed my instinct and removed it from the heat right then because just a minute later it started to curdle a bit. After going through the strainer it was better but not amazingly good. When you over cook creme anglaise it begins to taste eggy instead of creamy and the texture is ruined and is not satiny smooth as it should be. But, I didn't want to start over again so I decided it would have to do.
The meringue seemed simple enough. I whipped the egg whites and added the sugar and got it to the perfect stage. The first two came out looking like I thought they should but it kind of went downhill from there. I might have had the heat too high on the milk because some of them looked like plain cooked egg whites, and tasted that way too so they went right into the trash can. I'm not sure how some people said they cooked theirs for 3 minutes per side. Maybe I was doing something wrong.
Oh bother, this isn't looking good at all! The caramel didn't want to cooperate either and struggled to reach a golden brown color so it went on lighter than it should have been. All-in-all this was kind of a disappointing kitchen day. Nevertheless, I still took a few pictures (but didn't feel like there were any great ones). I don't think this will be one I will make again. Fun for the challenge but it didn't amaze me by any means. I enjoyed the creamy texture of the creme anglaise against the fluffiness of the meringue and the crunchy caramel but there was just something missing for me.
If you want to be brave and attempt this dessert yourself, head on over to Whisk: a food blog where Shari has it posted.
Until next week...Happy Baking!
6 comments:
I'm sorry it didn't work out! I hope that your guests liked the coffee cake... I'd love some creme anglaise on that!
I am sorry that it didn't turn out how you wanted. Your pictures do look pretty though. It was a tough one.
the creme anglaise was my favorite part. sorry this one didn't wow you... better luck next week. :)
Too bad you didn't like it! Thanks for baking along with me though.
I'm sorry to hear it wasn't what you wanted it to be. I know you were excited about this one!
Well, at least you tried. Wasn't a keeper for me either, but interesting. Next week....
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