During my childhood, the only time, when I ate Floating Island, was when the old lady from the neighbourhood of my grandparents invited me to watch some old TV shows together. When I was there, she always prepared this dessert for us.
It's still a very good memory, and this dessert always reminds me of those special occasions. Nowadays I like to prepare it in different flavours too, but let's start with the classic version with vanilla sauce. By the way, if you translate the Hungarian name of this dessert, it's literally 'bird-milk' :)
Ingredients
- 2000 ml whole milk
- 8 eggs
- 10 tbsp icing sugar
- 4-5 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp vanilla paste or a vanilla pod
- 1 tsp butter, to cover the pot
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Toasted almond flakes - optional
Instructions
- Cover the inside of a pot with butter, to avoid the milk burning on easily. Pour the milk into it and start to heat on medium heat.
- Separate the eggs.
- Whip the egg whites with half of the sugar to get a stable foam.
- When the milk is slightly boiling, spoon some of the foam on the top (it won't fit all at the same time). When the bottom of each spoonful of foam is cooked, turn them upside down by a skimmer. When they are about to double their original size, you can place them in a warm bowl by the skimmer. It won't be an express job, so be careful and don't burn the milk at the bottom of the pot.
- When you cooked all the egg white foam, reduce the heat under the pot, remove about 400 ml from the warm milk, add the egg yolks, flour and whisk it till the mixture is smooth and lump-free.
- Gradually pour this mixture back into the pot while constantly stirring the milk and add the other half of the sugar, vanilla paste and cinnamon too.
- When the sauce thickens, turn off the heat, pour it into a bowl, place the cooked foam pieces on top and let it reach room temperature, then place in the fridge.
- Serve chilled with toasted almonds on top.
Floating Islands - Photo by © Reka Csulak
