52/365 (2010 Project 365) : Happiness In A Forkful

I had a full tray of eggs that were about to go bad in a week, so I decided to make my very first Brazo de Mercedes - a custard filled meringue roll cake. It's not too difficult to make. In fact it is so easy to make, you can make this a fun activity with your kids or friends. The custard is just basically milk, sugar, and butter reduced to a very heavy consistency and mixed with egg yolks. If you're feeling lazy, you could just even use canned condensed milk. The meringue is also very easy to make - just beat egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar until the mixture forms stiff peaks.

What's difficult is executing it properly - you have to make sure that the meringue is spread evenly on the pan so that it cooks evenly and you get that nice brown color evenly all over. If you're not using canned condensed milk and actually making your own, you also have to make sure the milk doesn't get that burnt taste and the filling doesn't curdle.

And for my very first try, I'm afraid I didn't execute it as well as I had hoped. First, I was in too much of in a hurry (or excited about my "project" haha) to make sure the meringue mixture was evenly distributed on the pan. I didn't even use an angled icing spatula. As a result, I didn't get that nice even brown color. It didn't help that I also dropped the pan when I took it out of the oven - the meringue inflated (it would deflate as it cools) and I had a hard time taking it out. After some struggle, what I got was a slightly deformed meringue and a nice burn scar on my right arm. Nice! I also chose to make my own condensed milk, but I think I got lazy stirring in the end so the custard was not as smooth as I would have liked. And that explains why I didn't spend time taking a decent photo of it.

Oh well, I'll perfect it next time, I always make it a point that I do (the only thing holding me back is "10 eggs just for one dessert!?!? crazy!"). It turned out delicious anyway. I love it! Yum yum! Happiness in a forkful! (^_^)