Nigel Slater’s kitchen diary: a glorious blackcurrant meringue sundae

Photographs by Jonathan Lovekin

A sundae without fruit is no sundae at all. Soft fruit – raspberries, strawberries and blackberries – are almost essential in some form or another. Strawberries and raspberries can be made into a purée simply by introducing a little icing sugar and a splash of sparkling mineral water. A little fruit cordial or even eau de vie is good here, too. Use a vegetable masher or a blender to reduce the fruit to a silky sauce. Best, I feel, is to cook blackcurrants and raspberries with a little sugar and water for a sauce that is intense and inky.

Peaches and apricots need to be as ripe as you can get. No one wants a slice of hard peach or a woolly apricot in their sundae. If the fruit is not the ripest, it is best roasted or poached in syrup. Include a squeeze of lemon juice, a flower of anise or a vanilla pod and you’ll have a citrus or spiced syrup to play with, too. Cooking any fruit will render it tender enough to be a candidate topping for ice-cream, and is often the way with apricots that looked good but failed to live up to expectations.

There is an argument for a deep glass, and I can see the point, as you push your long-handled spoon through the layers, discovering the raspberry purée or the compote of currants, the crystalline crust of meringue. The real benefit of a deep glass is the treasure that lies at the bottom, the farthest corner of the dish that houses a mix of melted ice-cream, whipped cream and crushed fruit. The sweet equivalent of finding salty crumbs at the bottom of a packet of crisps.

An element of crunch is non-negotiable. Meringue, thin shortbread, wafers or crushed and toasted nuts will provide contrast to the soft cream and dairy ice. Even the most pedestrian of banana splits will come adorned with a toasted nut or two. A favourite crisp addition of mine is to dip small, salted pretzels into dark chocolate and sit them on top of the whipped cream, as if a butterfly had just landed on your dessert.

No need to make your own meringues, there are plenty around, but if you do, your sundae will benefit from not only a crispness, but a deep marshmallow layer you rarely find in commercial meringues. Makes 8. Ready in 2 hours if making your own meringues.

For the meringues:
egg whites 6
caster sugar 250g
cornflour 1 tbsp
white-wine vinegar 2 tsp

For the fruit sauce:
blackcurrants 400g
raspberries 250g
caster sugar 4 tbsp
water 250ml
peaches 4, ripe
double cream 250ml
vanilla ice-cream 500g

To make the meringues, set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Line a baking sheet with non-stick baking parchment.

Put the egg whites into a deep mixing bowl, then beat fairly slowly, until white and fluffy. This works best with a food mixer and a whisk attachment, but a hand whisk will do the trick.

Tip the sugar, a few tablespoons at a time, into the egg whites, beating all the time at a moderate to high speed. Continue for a good 5 minutes until the mixture is stiff and glossy. They should be able to stand in stiff, shiny peaks. Mix in the cornflour and the vinegar.

Using a large serving spoon, place 8 generous piles of the mixture, each about the size of a goose egg, on to the baking sheet. Place in the oven and lower the heat, door closed, to 140C/gas mark 1. Bake the meringues for 35-40 minutes until crisp on the outside. They should be soft and marshmallow-like within.

Allow the meringues to cool on the tray before moving, with the help of a palette knife, to a cooling rack.

To make the sauce, pull the blackcurrants from their stalks and drop them into a small saucepan. Add the raspberries, sugar and water and bring to the boil. Once the blackcurrants have started to burst and the juice in the pan has turned deep, inky purple, remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool.

At the last minute before serving, slice the peaches in half, remove their stones, then thickly slice the fruit. Whip the cream. To assemble, place the meringues on a large serving platter, or in individual shallow dishes. Press the top of each meringue with a spoon to make a hollow, then fill with ice-cream and a spoonful of whipped cream. Place the slices of peach among the meringues, then spoon over some of the chilled fruit sauce and eat immediately.

Serves 2. Ready in 1 hour.

redcurrants 125g
raspberries 125g
blackcurrant jam 2 tbsp
water 4 tbsp
caster sugar 2 tbsp
cantaloupe melon 500g, ripe, skin on
vanilla ice-cream 4 scoops
cherries 12
raspberries 16
peaches 2
redcurrant sprigs to finish (optional)

Make the sauce: remove the redcurrants from their stalks and put the fruit in a small pan. Add the raspberries, jam, water and sugar and bring almost to the boil. As soon as the sugar has dissolved, transfer to a blender and process to a purée.

Chill the sauce in the fridge for an hour, or by transferring it to a bowl over ice.

Remove the seeds from the melon, then scoop the flesh into balls with an ice-cream scoop or a spoon. Divide between 4 sundae glasses. Add a scoop of ice-cream to each glass. Stone the cherries, then add them with the raspberries to the sauce. Halve the peaches, discard the stones, slice each half into 4 and add to the sauce.

Spoon sauce and fruit over ice-cream and melon. Add sprigs of redcurrants if you wish. Eat immediately.