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Floating Island in Caramel and Dulce de Leche

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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, which might sound like a bread on bread situation but it’s not really, the milky jam having such a distinct milky flavor -duh- but when you put it side by side with deep flavored caramel, the differences are obvious. Together, it’s a synergy of the best kind.
A lot of wandering spoons will find themselves around the edges of the serving platter, stripping the floating island of it’s sauce. I know I do it.
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And about that plate, make sure you either use a very large one or pour some of the sauce on top and the rest in a nice saucer to pass around, otherwise you’ll end up with a humongous pool of sticky liquid trying desperately to go over the edge and onto the table, that is if you’re lucky; if not it will find it’s way onto your nice, starchy, perfectly ironed tablecloth, the one you keep for special occasions, because you made this powder snow looking floating island for a special gathering. You do know how annoying it is to remove sticky caramel from a cloth, don’t you? Very.
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I adapted this recipe to make a tall dessert, or merengón, as Adriana’s mother calls it (which is Spanish for ‘big meringue’). I was
taught this recipe ages ago, literally, and what do you know, Dorie’s proportions in the book, our FFWD challenge today, are exactly the same as mine, which is a very old heritage recipe. Go figure. I only omitted the teaspoon of vanilla extract because, well, you know, we’re making a pool of dulce de leche and caramel, we have enough vanilla flavor for now.

I have to admit I barely read the instructions and just made it the way I always do. I caramelize a large tube pan, beat the meringue and bake it in a water bath for the specified time, leaving it in the turned off oven to cool down, like I do with my cheesecakes. It shrinks, and then goes into the fridge till the next day, where it shrinks even more, 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.

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While this is nothing more than baked meringue, the proportions are not your usual, if you take those of italian meringue, or swiss, my favorite, the one I use for things like the dulce de leche mille feuille, 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 float in your mouth, almost a whisper of a bite dissolving before you know. Except we do have all the double caramel gooeyness dripping from the spoon, so sticky, so achingly sweet it doesn’t even bother me, because I want to lick the plate if I may.

One last thought, in case you’re still wondering if you should make it, is that it feeds many, a sliver goes a long way, a sentence that particularly applies with the sweet pool of caramel I use here. I even made it for a wedding once, two large ones together with about forty other desserts, like fresh strawberry pies and hazelnut milk chocolate ones, since I had the bright idea of making the dessert table for my cousin’s wedding as my gift to them. I spent a week baking, set up the dessert table for 350 guests and then stayed at the reception until 4am because, you know, it was one of my cousins getting married, my family; then went home, went to sleep at about 5am and didn’t wake up until 7pm the next day. I don’t think I ever remember sleeping so much as an adult.
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You can make this one or two days before you plan to serve it, or even three, just like a cheesecake or a flan. And what to serve it with? Crème anglaise or zabaglione are the usual choices, because of the leftover egg yolks really. But a light chocolate sauce with fresh berries goes great too. Or even lemon curd.

 

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Floating Island with dulce de leche

Floating Island with dulce de leche

  • Yield: 10 servings 1x
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Description

You can serve this dessert in a pool of crème anglaise or sabayon too, and add some fresh berries such as raspberries or strawberries.

Scale

Ingredients

  • 9 egg whites (room tº)
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • Large pinch of salt
  • 1 ½ cups sugar (for caramel)
  • 1 cup dulce de leche

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 250ºF / 115ºC.

To caramelize the pan:

  1. Put the 1 ½ cups sugar in the pan and set it over medium heat over a stove burner.
  2. It will slowly start to melt. You will be moving the sugar around with a wooden spoon or heat proof spatula a few times to prevent it from burning in one spot.
  3. Rotate the pan frequently, so the flame hits different parts and melts the sugar as evenly as possible. If it’s going too slow increase the flame, but be careful not to burn it.
  4. When you stir the sugar with a spoon, be VERY CAREFUL with putting your hand over the funnel, since the flame below will try to escape through it. Keep on rotating the pan and mixing the sugar when you see it’s burning in only one spot. It will eventually start to turn a golden color. If necessary lower the flame so it dissolves the sugar completely. It will look like you have a golden see full of ice floating, but it will eventually all melt.
  5. Again, being very careful, take one or two kitchen cloths, wrap them around the pan, which will be extremely hot, and swirl the caramel so it coats the walls of the tube pan. Spoon caramel so it coats the tube too.
  6. The caramel will start to harden, so do it fairly quickly.

To make the meringue:

  1. Put the room temperature whites in the bowl of an electric mixer, add the salt and start whipping at medium speed for about 1 minute.
  2. Gradually add the ¾ cup sugar, and beat on high until glossy, firm peaks form. The meringue should not droop. This will take a few minutes, maybe 3 or 4.
  3. With a spatula transfer the mix to the caramel lined pan. The caramel will start to crack when you add the meringue, it’s ok. Push gently with the spoon if you see there are empty spaces with no mixture. Spread as evenly as you can.
  4. Put in a baking oven pan with at least 1-inch sides. Put in the oven, and then slowly add very hot tap water to the pan.
  5. Bake for 40 minutes and check. It should have risen above the rim of the pan and be quite firm to the touch. Turn off the oven and leave inside with the door closed.
  6. After an hour, transfer to a wire rack. Let it cool for half an hour more, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 8 hours or overnight.
  7. To unmold, uncover the pan, put it directly over a low flame, moving it around so the bottom warms a bit and the caramel barely starts to melt.
  8. Using a large platter, flip it carefully. Warm the caramel again by putting the pan on the flame. Add some of it to the top of the floating island, careful not to add too much.
  9. Heat the dulce de leche with 4 Tbs water. You want a honey-like consistency.
  10. Add some to the top of the dessert and mix the rest with the remaninig caramel. Put in a jar to serve.
 
barely adapted from Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan

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Comments

  1. wow Paula, I am totally fascinated with this floating island! It looks divine with caramel and dulce de leche.

    Reply

  2. Paula, your floating island looks incredible! You've convinced me to try the larger version…simple stunning!

    Reply

  7. That's one perfect egg white peak! I told you before, but your merengón baked in the tube pan looks perfect. Brought back tons of memories. I'll make a scaled back version using ramekins like Lizzy sometime this weekend.

    I'm such a chicken when it comes to making caramels on the same pan as flanes. I'd rather stand over it for a LONG time than risk burning it. When I was in college I was also DUMB enough to attempt making caramel on a Pyrex pan on top of the stove. You can guess how that one ended up.

    Reply

  13. Paula, your version looks very elegant, I like that you made in the tube pan and served it with caramel and dulche de leche – it is nice to see that we all seem to really enjoy this classic French dessert recipe because it is a wonderful dessert.
    Hope all is well and have a great weekend, dear Paula!

    Reply

  17. Paula,
    my first words: Oh. My. Gawd. Looks so good! I am deathly afraid of the water bath. . can you believe I don't have a roasting pan?! I absolutely need one so I can attempt the water bath. . this looks so amazing and you make it seem elegant and effortless. and wow! a dessert table for 350 guests for your cousin's wedding? sleeping for 48 hrs is SO ok after that! 🙂 I'm sure it was beautiful!

    Reply

  18. Loved reading about your baking method and am thrilled to have both your tips and recipe! It looks just amazing 😉

    Reply

  19. Oh Paula, Wow! This looks luscious and sounds incredibly delicious! I so love dulce de leche! You must be the best cousin ever, for making a dessert table for 350 guests…What a wonderful gift!!
    I thought the texture of mine, was very light and airy…no crunch, like you get when you bake it. It was very good…as I’m sure yours was. Have a wonderful weekend, Paula!

    Reply

  20. I love everything about this post- the memories, tips, gorgeous photos and sharing that Dorie's version was like you "heritage" one. Ok – the part about how much work went into that wedding was kind of scary though, but your are amazing for pulling it all off !!

    Reply

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