Peruvian caramel and liqueur meringue (suspiro de limeña)

Translating to "sigh of a woman" and dating back to the 1800s, this is one of the best-loved traditional Peruvian desserts. The recipe's slow cooking process results in a golden, silky smooth caramel-like base, which is then crowned with a light and creamy liqueur meringue. Serve it with mixed berries.

• serves

  6

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

Suspiro manjar

• 4 egg yolks 
• 395 g can condensed milk 
• 375 ml can evaporated milk 
• 1½ tsp vanilla essence 

Liqueur meringue

• 220 g (1 cup) caster sugar
• 60 ml (¼ cup) port 
• 4 eggwhites 
• pinch of salt 
• ground cinnamon, for dusting

Chilling time 30 minutes

Instructions

To make the suspiro manjar, place the egg yolks in a bowl and lightly beat together. Set aside.

Pour the condensed and evaporated milks into a saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously for 15 minutes, or until it starts to thicken. Reduce heat to low, then whisk a ladleful of milk mixture into egg yolks. Strain mixture back into pan, add the vanilla and stir for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat, then divide between martini glasses. Stand at room temperature to cool.

To make the liqueur meringue, place the sugar and port in a saucepan over low heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Simmer, without stirring, until the syrup forms a thin thread when a little bit of it is dropped into a glass of cold water.

While syrup is cooking, using electric beaters, beat the eggwhites and salt until soft peaks form.

Beating continuously, gradually pour syrup into the eggwhites and. Beat until meringue is cool, thick and shiny. Spoon meringue over the suspiro manjar, dust with cinnamon and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Note

• When making the suspiro manjar, Rosanna adds nearly all of the evaporated milk at once, just topping up with small amounts to regulate the temperature, but she recommends the method above for novice cooks to help prevent the manjar from burning.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.