nom nom nom. Italian Meringue and just a little torched. Urgh.... it's probably like liquid gold through the Sydney Storm. But I wouldn't know... I gave it away :(

So good that I just had to share. I think this is my 4th annual High Tea that I host for my friends. Another successful year but oh so tiring! I wish I had more pictures but everyone was just so eager to dig in that it was a little chaotic!

A very decent spread this year: Cheese & Chive scones, sandwich board, cheese platter, momofuku inspired pork buns, salmon and cucumber canapes, prosciotto and rockmelon and bocconcini and cherry tomato sticks.

And for sweet: banoffee pie, earl grey chocolate tart, green tea chiffon cake, scones with jam and cream, macarons, brownie cookies and peanut butter caramel tartlets.

And a special belated Lemon Meringue tart for Cherry. 

Perhaps it's time I think about adding tea time options to the catering menu for others to have something just as special?

Meringue... frosting / pavlova / discs / buttercream is always delicious (soft and sweet like marshmallow) but it is also very fragile and sometimes even temperamental. So I always try and ensure that these cakes are made as close as possible to serving time. Sometimes, that means waking up at 5 a.m. to make the meringue and toast it for the cake.

This is a two-tone cheesecake... Lemon and White Chocolate and completely smothered in Italian Meringue. I love burning things so had tons of fun doing this. (Yep, need to bring out that Bomb Alaska recipe again and invite some friends over and do it all over again...!)

These cakes are best eaten on the day if not immediately. I guess you could put it in the fridge for up to 48 hours but I just think that there is nothing like fresh meringue. You will notice that there is probably a slightly different texture and taste to homemade meringue compared to the commercial cakes you see in shops and cafes. This is most probably because there aren't any artificial additives to the meringue to help hold it up including but not limited to cornflour, gelatin, bone powder (yes, true, I googled this!), starch, etc. None of which sound too appetizing hmm? Meringue, when you think about it, is egg white and sugar and lots and lots of air. So it makes sense that meringue will shrink and deflate over time, hence why it should always be eaten fresh!