100th Recipe Posted!
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A floating island is a dessert of French origin, a dessert consisting of meringue floating on crème anglaise
(a vanilla custard sauce). The meringues are prepared from whipped egg whites, sugar and vanilla extract, and then poached. There is some confusion about the name. In French cuisine, the terms œufs à la neige (eggs in snow) and île flottante (floating island) are used interchangeably. The latter is the source of the English name.
I have enjoyed poached, small, two-bite-size floating island/meringues served with crème anglaise, similar as seen on Yummy Chunklet‘s post. Then, I saw and was inspired by this baked bain-marie style version on Martha Stewart‘s shows on PBS TV station, which she saw at her friend’s party and was inspired.
This marshmallow like delicate tasting meringue can certainly be healthy and with fewer calories, if served with just fresh fruit purée sauce! When I was thinking of choosing an impressive looking recipe for my 100th recipe post, I could not resist the beauty of this dessert for one of the milestones of this blog.
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Ile Flottante • Floating Island with Caramel
Recipe by: Fae’s Twist & Tango (fae-magazine.com)
INGREDIENTS
For the meringue
• 9 large egg whites (280 gr), room temperature
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 150 gr/5 wtoz (1 cup+ 2 Tbsp) caster sugar**
**If caster sugar is not available at your neighborhood markets, grind same amount of granulated sugar in a food processor for 3~5 minutes.
◊ Prepare a deep baking pan and boiling water for bain-marie.
For the caramel sauce
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 Tbsp water + 6 Tbsp water
◊ Fill a large bowl with cold water and have it ready.
◊ Heat sugar and 4 Tbsp water in a small saucepan over high heat, swirling, until sugar dissolves. Raise heat to high. Bring to a boil. Cook, swirling occasionally, until dark amber, 3~5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Carefully stir in remaining water, 2 Tbsp at a time (careful, it sputters), and swirl to combine to thick consistency. Cook until caramel almost reaches its boiling point. Remove from heat. Dip bottom of pan into bowl of cold water to cease cooking.
◊ Place rack on middle oven shelf and preheat oven to 190°C/375°F
◊ Brush a 10 cup bundt pan (22 cm/ 8½” Dia x 10 cm/ 4″ H) with vegetable oil, and invert onto a paper towel to drain excess oil.
◊ Whisk egg whites, cream of tartar, and ¼ tsp salt with a mixer on medium speed, until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar 1 Tbsp at a time, gradually increasing speed to high. Whisk until stiff, thick, glossy peaks form, occasionally scraping the side of the bowl with silicone spatula (~ 14 minutes on high), add vanilla and whisk for few more seconds.
◊ Spoon-in meringue to bundt pan, pressing to remove air pockets. Smooth with silicone spatula. Set bundt pan in a deep baking pan, place it in oven. Carefully pour boiling water into deep baking pan to cover bundt pan half way up, 5cm/ 2″.
Bake (bain-marie) until meringue is puffed and lightly browned, about 20 minutes. VERY carefully transfer deep baking pan with bundt pan still in it and place it on heat-safe counter. Let the bundt pan sit in the hot water for 10 minutes, and then remove and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.
◊ At this point, make the caramel sauce (recipe on top).
◊ Gently loosen sides of meringue from the mold, gently shake the mold to assure that the meringue slides, and after placing a serving platter over the mold, invert. The meringue should slip right out.
◊ Pour cooled caramel sauce over cooled meringue and refrigerate until ready to serve.
◊ When ready to serve, slice meringue and place it in plates on bed of crème anglaise. Drizzel/decorate with caramel sauce.
~ Bon Appétit! ~
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So, what’s cooking in your kitchen?
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This looks lovely. Going to make it soon!
Mazel tov on your 100th recipe!
Ile Flottante – the name itself is so beautiful. This is a lovely and impressive recipe…!
Thank you, Shanna. Tonight, at the grocery store’s cashier line, I was browsing the Food & Wine magazine November issue, and this is what I saw >> Île Flottante for a Crowd!
OH me, oh my. Looks scrumptious and beautiful!
Congratulations on your 100th recipe. What a fitting recipe. It looks as light as a feather and I know it will taste divine. I couldn’t understand why I kept missing your posts – operator error it seems! I have now found your email follow link so there is no excuse for me to miss a single post.
Congratulations on the 100th recipe Fae! The cake looks so delicious!
Fae, this looks so, so delicious! I love anything with meringue but I’ve never made a floating island before. I need to change that! Congratulations on your 100th recipe too. That’s a huge feat. It’s a beautiful one to celebrate with! xx
Hi Fae, this looks absolutely gorgeous!!
Your cakes and desserts are always sublime and almost pristine. No exception here. Beautiful job Fae!
Wow, that ile flottante looks like perfection! Reminds me of the one I had in Paris, a few years ago.
Georgeous presentation Fae….
i love the charred top part of the floating meringue….
What an elegant dessert! Love it!
Wow, this is so awesome! Looks so yummy!
Fae, this is gorgeous. This is one of my favorite desserts growing up and I used to make it alot for my Mom when she came to live with me. Mine tasted good but never looked as good as the one you made – am going to have to try your method. Congrats on the 100th post!!
That really is a beautiful dessert. Very impressive! And, congrats on your milestone!
This looks absolutely wonderful, and congratulations on your 100th recipe post. What a great way to celebrate!
What a fabulous, tasty & original dessert, Fae! Thanks for the introduction to me!
Waw even! MMMMMMM! Xxx
Wow! Congratulations on the 100th post Fae! Fabulous!
How on earth did you manage to remove the meringue from the bunt tin? You can’t grease the inside because its egg white, right?
Yes, I used a brush to grease the mold with vegetable oil. Once egg-whites are completely thick & foamy, the oil doesn’t seem to matter. It is only before beating that all utensils/bowls need to be squeaky clean. Once the baked meringue is cooled, by gently pressing the edge, and inverted with a platter on the top, it come right out.
Holy moly this looks amazing! Can’t stop staring at this! A beautiful post to celebrate your 100th post Fae. Well done!
Gorgeous!!! I love this.
Congratulations! & …Enjoy the trip! 😉
Even though I’ve had differing types of meringue (never keen on them if vinegar has been used) I’ve never had this dessert. So good to pair meringue and a thin custard (which is what it’s called over here).
– Caster sugar isn’t available in the States? I’ll have to bear that in mind and give similar advice to yours as I’ve written it as an ingredient within several posts already without realising!
I looked everywhere and could not find caster sugar in the USA (I’m sure there must be imported ones somewhere). Therefore, it may be a good idea to give advise to cater to readers who can’t obtain it.
Thanks for the mention! Your dessert looks fantastic!
Oh, I love yours, especially served with almond brittle! Yum! 😛
OMG Fae!!! That looks totally amazing! Oh, I could sure go for a piece right now! Or two…
Congratulations on 100 recipes! This sounds great!
100 recipes – well done!
YUM! This looks delicious! I think I may have to try this! Thank you for sharing!
… and congrats on your 100th post! yaay!
Congrats on your 100th recipe – what an accomplishment!! And what a 100th it is – just lovely girlfriend!! Celeste
Dear Fae, you have no idea how long I have waited for one of my friend bloggers to publish this recipe.
One of my best friends is crazy about this dessert and she has been asking me to make it for her but I had no idea where to start from. Thank you, Fae! This is just perfect!
Almost forgot … Congratulations for your 100 recipe achievement. It’s really impressive.
Thank you, Thank you, Francesca! I’m glad to have been of help. Your friend will be delighted! 😀
oh my gosh, I usually don’t like caramel but this looks sooooo good. thanks for sharing
Congratulations, Fae! I’m halfway there 😉 My mum used to make this quite often for Sunday dessert. It’s so incredibly good! Never tried it with crème anglaise, though.
Did you use any sauce or have it with fruit(s)? Your Mum knew how to feed you cholesterol-less protein! 😀
My mum always serves it with caramel. But you couldn’t be more wrong about my diet: she saves the yolks to make Portuguese desserts! 😉
Woot woot! 100 recipes! Break out the bubbly
Gosh it’s inspiring how prolific you are Fae. Thanks for being our beacon. 😀
Looks so beautiful and sounds so delicious! Well done! Have a great day, Bridget
So delicious, Fae!!! But I don’t have a bundt cake pan.
I have almost the same post, except that it has custard. It will be on the next post on Monday. 
I’ve seen it baked in regular ‘deep’ cake pans. However, in bain-marie, the hot water boiling through the center opening seems to help. Looking forward to your Monday post! 😀