Carrot meringue cake

This fantastic cake combines two of my favourite desserts – it’s essentially a carrot cake topped with small pyramids of meringue. Kosher for Passover, but delicious all year round.

Method

• Heat the oven to 160°C, gas mark 3, and line the base and sides of a 22cm round springform cake tin with baking paper.
• Using electric beaters, whisk the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla in a large bowl. Then stir in the almonds, matzah meal, baking powder, coconut and cinnamon until you have a smooth batter. Finally, stir in the grated carrots, orange zest (but not the juice) and chopped walnuts.
• Transfer the batter to the tin and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.
• Poke holes all over the top of the cake with a fine skewer or cocktail stick, and drizzle over 2 tbsp of the orange juice and leave to cool.
• To make the icing, put the egg whites, sugar and lemon juice in a clean heatproof bowl, set over a pan of gently simmering water. Use electric beaters to whisk the mixture for three minutes over the heat or until the whites are warmed and sugar mostly dissolved.
• Lift the bowl off the heat and use an electric whisk to keep beating the mixture for five minutes or until stiff shiny peaks form. Whisk in the vanilla to finish.
• Transfer the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large, round nozzle. Pipe large dollops all over the top of the cake, then use a blowtorch (or put under a low grill, watching very carefully) to toast the icing until it is a light golden brown.

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