Easy Raspberry Vacherin

By Inès Martel

Inès Martel is a dessert maker by trade in Wattrelos, France.  She is someone who cares deeply about the food and baking industry.

Cake designer and pastry shop owner Inès spoke to us about how she's used pastry to celebrate French culture, and why the raspberry vacherin will become one of your favorite summer treats.

With sous chef Fifine D'Aoust and the prolific sugar flower artist Fleurette Laprise already booked for the opening weekend, Inès is hoping these French confections will stimulate conversation about France, and position her French culture as a source of inspiration and love for the people that comes to her shop from all around the world. "We hope to inspire a much-needed conversation about love and acceptance in our world," says pastry chef Fifine D'Aoust. "We want our guests to embrace and enjoy these products and experiences to create wonderful memories for themselves and those they care about.”

Vacherin is a frozen dessert made of meringue, whipped cream and flavorful fruit that is in season. It's also the best seller in my pastry shop during the summer because of its frozen texture and flavorful fruit combination, its so refreshing. Vacherin is very easy to make, my version is just French meringue baked to perfection, loaded with whipped cream, and packed with raspberries. Try adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream or raspberry sorbet to make this recipe a complete success.

The vacherin is a dessert with plenty of flavour despite its simple construction. It is very similar to a Pavlova. However, vacherin is typically frozen, this dessert can be fashioned as a more elaborate ice cream cake.

Given that vacherin is a frozen dessert, I suggest using frozen fruits if you can’t find fresh fruits. You can use store bought ice cream but if you have a bit of extra time, then try creating your own ice cream just make sure I has a smooth consistency. If you don't have raspberries, you can use any fruit you want, for variation place a meringue disc to make a kind of sandwich or make it a larger version of the meringue disc, and fill it with the addition of ice cream to make an ice cream cake.

Easy Raspberry Vacherin Recipe

Ingredients

Meringue

1/2 cup Confectioners’ sugar

3/4 Granulated sugar

3 Egg whites

Pinch of Sea salt

1 teaspoonVanilla extract 

Confectioners’ or icing sugar for dusting

Filling

2 cups double cream

2 cups fresh raspberries

1/2 cup Confectioners’ or icing sugar

Making the Meringue

1 - Preheat the oven at 250ºF.

2 - Using only dry utensils separate the eggs and sift the confectioners’ sugar.

3 - Place the egg whites and salt and whip for a couple of minutes until foam stars to form.

4 - incorporate the sugar one spoon at a time and keep whipping until you get stiff and shiny peaks.

5 - In a baking pan place parchment paper and pipe circular shapes of 4 inches in diameter.

6 - Bake for about 1 hour, they should be white and have a crisp shell on the outside.

7 - Let cool at room temperature.

Tip: If the meringue comes out cracked, you may have over whipped the meringue or the oven was too hot. Try baking the same batch with the oven at a lower temperature or make a new batch, taking care of whipping the meringue for only 5 to 7 minutes in total.

Filling and Assembly

1 - Using a clean bowl and whisk, beat the double cream and confectioners’ sugar until you get soft peaks.

2 - Place the whipped cream on top of the meringue discs.

3 - Place the raspberries on top and freeze for at least 2 hours.

Tip: You can also serve the Vacherin immediately without freezing, adding a scoop of ice cream as a shortcut.