Gooseberry and elderflower torte

Gooseberry and elderflower torte
(Stachelbeer und holunderblueten torte)

For the base

300g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

150g cream cheese

100ml milk

100ml vegetable oil

75g sugar

half teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch salt

For the Filling

800g gooseberries

150ml elderflower cordial

450g cream cheese

250g crème fraiche

200g sugar

3 large eggs

2 eggyolks (the whites make the meringue – do not discard)

50g melted cooled butter

50g cornflour

For the meringue top

2 eggwhites

100g sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. 

Over a gentle heat cook the gooseberries in the cordial until softened but not completely disintegrated – keep gently stirring to ensure they cook evenly. Tip into a sieve set over a jug and leave to cool and drain.

In a large mixing bowl sift the flour and baking powder together, then add the cream cheese, milk, oil, sugar, vanilla and salt and beat with an electric mixer with the dough hook for about a minute until the dough combines, but no longer as it will start to stick. Press this into the base of a well oiled 20cm springfrom cake tin.

In the rinsed and cleaned mixing bowl now put the cream cheese, crème fraiche, sugar, eggs, egg yolks, melted butter and corn flour and beat on a high speed with a whisk until well combined and creamy. Fold in the gooseberry mix – they have been drained but are like a thick puree. The draining liquid will form the sauce for the finished torte so keep this aside. Pour the mix onto the dough in the cake tin, cover with a piece of tin foil that has been folded down the middle to allow for expansion, and bake in the centre of the preheated oven for about 30-30 minutes. It will rise to the very edge of the tin so beware! Once it has set, it will be a little wobbly still.

In the meantime, in the same cleaned and thoroughly dried mixing bowl whisk the two egg whites on a high speed until very stiff – so you can leave peaks – then slowly add the sugar in a steady stream as you beat it until you have a stiff meringue mix. Spread this onto the cake, swirling into soft peaks with a fork, and bake for a further 5-10 minutes, until it is lightly browned all over. Remove (without catching the edge on the bl*@dy oven rack as I did...) and leave to cool completely before removing from the springform.