Floating Island Recipe

This is one of my signature desserts, a fluffy baked meringue that floats in caramel and dulce de leche. It's a very simple recipe but looks sophisticated, and a showstopper at any party or celebration!

To say this floating island recipe took me back to my first years of active baking is the understatement of the week.

I can’t begin to count the times I’ve made this, so much so that people simply asked me to make an island – why don’t you make an island for this weekend? – and who can blame them, considering this baked meringue dessert ‘floats’ in a mix of caramel and dulce de leche. 

A lot of wandering spoons will find themselves around the edges of the serving platter, stripping the floating island of its sauce. I know I do it.

About baked meringue

This dessert is essentially a meringue that is baked. It is as simple to make as any meringue, and easy if you have a good stand mixer or hand-held electric beater.

The proportions are not your usual for Italian meringue, or Swiss (my favorite, the one I use for things like the dulce de leche mille-feuille) because the amount of sugar per white is much smaller.

It holds firm peaks but there's a shiny quality missing, not glossy like an expensive magazine cover but more like door paint, my doors at least; yet the floating island will be ethereal, almost a whisper of a bite dissolving before you know.  

If it sounds like it will not hold, I share that feeling. But trust me that it baked beautifully. The proof is in the photos.

The caramel

Homemade caramel is not difficult but you need to be very careful. Very.

Making it directly in the pan you'll be using saves time and you don't waste some of it when transferring from one container to the other. But you can use a saucepan if that's easier for you.

Tips: you'll need to use very heat resistant mittens or towels because caramel burns a lot. And it might be difficult to maneuver the pan as it gets super hot from being on an open flame.

I caramelize a large tube pan (image below), beat the meringue to firm peaks and bake it in a water bath for the specified time, leaving it in the turned-off oven to cool down, as I do with my cheesecakes.

The floating island shrinks when it starts to cool down. That is normal.

It then goes into the fridge till the next day, where it shrinks even more (image below), like a souffle. But the texture after that is smooth and airy, just perfect; the knife cuts effortlessly into it, it doesn't move, the island, it just stays tall.

Serving this dessert

The traditional way is Crème anglaise or zabaglione, because of the leftover egg yolks really. But a light chocolate sauce with fresh berries goes great too. Or even lemon curd.

I go the Argentinian route and use my homemade dulce de leche recipe on top of the caramel that comes with it (image below). So good!

If not serving it with dulce de leche, you might want to add some vanilla extract to the meringue. But, since I serve it in a pool of dulce de leche and caramel, we have enough vanilla flavor for now.

You can make this one or two days before you plan to serve it, or even three, just like a cheesecake or a flan. 

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