Happy birthday little r - Mrs A. B. Marshall's Cornets & Meringues

My how fast the year flies.  It only seemed like yesterday that I was busy in the kitchen mastering a violet croquembouche for little r's birthday when in a blink of an eye another birthday has arrived!

This year I've made something different.  Inspired by a woman that was quite the celebrity chef and entrepreneur back in the Victorian times - that coincidently shares the same surname as me - I decided to make some intricate little sweet fancies that would not only be just perfect for a little girls birthday party but would also withstand the scrutiny of aristocrats at a banquet table.  My sweet treats are perhaps not as perfect as Mrs A. B. Marshall's but nonetheless perfect for little r.

Cornets 

Mix together 113g ground almonds with 56g of caster sugar, and 56g of fine flour, a pinch of salt, one whole egg, 1/4 tsp of vanilla essence, and 1/2 tablespoon of orange flower water to form a paste.  

Note: I decided not to follow Mrs A. B. Marshall's method to make the cornets instead relying on the convenience of modern technology - cooking cornets in an oven is soooo one hundred & twenty six years ago! 

Heat a mini pizzelle iron.  To make the cornets, place a teaspoon of the mixture into the pizzelle.  Allow to cook for a few seconds then remove and roll into a cone.  Allow to cool then garnish the edges with pink and white royal icing (see recipe below).

Royal Icing
Mix 113g of icing sugar with 1 teaspoon of powdered egg white, two or three drops of strained lemon juice; and enough water to make icing that's stiff enough to pipe.  Divide into half.  Colour one bowl with a couple of drops of Queen's cochineal and mix thoroughly; and leave the remaining icing plain. Using a piping bag pipe alternate dots around the top of each cornet and allow to set. Note: I used powdered egg white because I didn't like the idea of making my gorgeous girls sick with the use of raw egg white!

Just before serving fill the cornets with some sweetened and flavoured whipped cream as detailed in Mrs A. B. Marshall's recipe above or alternatively follow her tips for other fillings for example ice cream, custard, sorbet, granita and/or fruit.

My Pizzelle iron

This cornet recipe is circa. 1888

Getting ready to garnish the cornets with Royal Icing

You can also roll the icing in coloured sugar for a different effect

Passionfruit sorbet

Lychee Sorbet was the favourite of the day - yum!

And, then we had meringues...

I followed Mrs A. B. Marshall's recipe but added a couple of drops of Queen's cochineal to the meringue mixture then painted the inside of the piping bag with Wilton orange gel paste and used a large star nozzle to achieve the pretty orange ruffle effect. We decided not to make them with cream as they're perfect just the way they are. I took a vote whether to flavour the meringue mixture or not but the girls decided they wanted them plain. If I were to make them for adults, I'd flavour them with some essences such as rose, violet, vanilla, orange, lavender and/or coffee and chocolate. 

I looove you little r - xoxooxoxox