Comforting lemon meringue pie meets refreshing sorbet in this fabulous summer dessert recipe. Enriching and softening a sorbet with meringue creates a dessert known as a ‘spoom’ – and it’s so tasty.
- Sorbet with a twist: “The addition of meringue creates a ‘spoom’ with fluffy, creamy texture, and I’ve fully leaned into the flavour by combining it with a simple lemon sorbet,” says head of food Tom Shingler. “Top it with lemon curd and crumbled biscuits and you have a lemon meringue pie in frozen form.”
- Easy DIY iced treat: water-based sorbets and granitas are simple to make at home as they don’t require as much churning as dairy-based gelato or ice cream, which means you can get away with not using an ice cream machine. “There are loads of reasons to give making your own sorbets and granitas a go,” says Tom. “They’re low effort – often requiring just a few minutes of simmering to create a syrup or a quick whizz in a blender – then all you need to do is wait for it to freeze solid.”
- Scale it up: this sorbet recipe scales up easily for a party and is the ideal make-ahead dessert – just remove from the freezer 5 minutes beforehand, then pile into glasses to serve.
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Ingredients
- 4 lemons
- 375g caster sugar
- 2 large egg whites
- Lemon curd to drizzle (optional)
- Shortbread biscuits, crushed, to garnish (optional)
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Method
- Pour 450ml water into a saucepan and finely grate the zest of the lemons into it. Add 300g of the sugar, then put over a low heat and warm through until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the juice of all 4 lemons, then pass through a fine sieve into a container and leave the mixture to cool completely. At this point you can either transfer the syrup into an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions, or put the container in the freezer for 4-6 hours until firm, stirring with a fork every hour or so to break up the ice crystals.
- When the lemon sorbet is very nearly frozen solid, heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Put the remaining 75g sugar in a baking tin and toast it for 10 minutes. Add the egg whites to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment (or use a mixing bowl and an electric hand mixer). Beat for a few minutes until the egg whites turn frothy, then add all the hot sugar while whisking constantly. Continue to whisk for about 10 minutes until the meringue forms glossy stiff peaks (that don’t flop over when the whisk is removed).
- Take about a third of the meringue and beat it into the sorbet (if the sorbet is fully frozen and too stiff to mix, let it soften a little) – this should loosen it up. Carefully fold the remaining meringue into the mixture until just combined, trying not to knock too much air out of it. Return everything to the freezer for at least another 2 hours.
- Take the spoom out of the freezer for 5 minutes, then serve scoops drizzled with lemon curd and scattered with crushed shortbread, if you like.
Nutrition
- 195kcals Calories
- trace Fat
- 0.9g Protein
- 47g (47g sugars) Carbs
- 0g Fibre
- 0.1g Salt
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