Ile flottante means floating island and consists of a foaming meringue floating in a crème anglaise (custard) sprinkled with caramel and pralines. It can be a challenging recipe. If you want to make it at home, here are step by step instructions, easy to follow and with guaranteed success.
Course Desserts
Cuisine French
Keyword custard meringue, floating island, ile flottante
Cut the vanilla pod in half and with a knife scrape out all the seeds.
1 vanilla pod
Warm up the milk and infuse the vanilla seeds and the pod in the milk for at least 30 minutes.
2 cup milk
Warm up some water in a pot for a bain marie
Separate the egg yolks from the whites and put aside the whites
5 egg yolk
In a bowl whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until it turns into a lighter colour and it starts bubbling
⅓ cup caster sugar
Strain the milk to remove the vanilla pod and any other large pieces.
Pour the warm milk into the egg mix,
Place the pan over the bain-marie (water bath). Keep the water simmering, and stir the custard with a wooden spoon until it thickens. It can take up to 15 minutes
Once the custard has thickened, let it cool down completely which you can do by immersing the pan into cold water.
Meringue:
Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites at high speed until they become stiff
2 egg white, 1 pinch salt
Add half of the icing sugar and continue to whisk
1 cup icing sugar
Once the mix becomes firm add the remaining icing sugar and mix until it is all combined.
Butter 4 small but deep ceramic (or microwave resistant) cups and pour the egg white mix in 4 equal amounts. Make sure there is enough room to the top of the cups as the meringue will rise while cooking
Cook the meringues in the microwave at medium power (800 watts) for 2 min 30 sec
Assembly of each serving
In a soup bowl pour ¼ of the crème anglaise.
Position one of the meringues over the crème anglaise in the centre of the plate to make the island.
Caramel and topping
In a pan pour the sugar and the water and bring to boil at medium heat.
½ cup caster sugar, ½ cup fresh water
With a thermometer keep measuring the temperature of the syrup, the caramel will be ready when it reaches 260 F - 125 C. Don’t get distracted as the caramel, once it is formed, can burn within seconds.
Once the temperature is reached, immediately remove the caramel from the heat. Move the pan gently and not too far. Bring the serving bowls closer. Remember, too much shaking can re-crystallize the caramel.
Let it rest a few seconds until the bubbling stops, but not too long otherwise it will solidify.
With a spoon, swirl the caramel directly over the French meringue and sprinkle some pralines.
Serve and enjoy
To make small caramel cups
Oil 4 small bowls with light vegetable oil or butter and whirl the caramel on the bowl with a spoon making swirls shapes. The caramel will solidify very quickly.
Remove the little cup and place it over the French meringue. Sprinkle with the praline and top the meringues with the caramel curls.
sprinkle of praline
Video
Notes
Top Tips for making crème anglaise
The crème anglaise has to cook at low heat, otherwise, it curdles.
Best is to cook it au bain-marie: not on direct heat but inside a pan full of water.
Here I use a copper pan specifically designed for a bain-marie. You can use any small pan inside a larger pan, but make sure the small pan does not touch the bottom of the large pan otherwise the heat will be too strong.
Be patient, pour the warm milk into the egg mix, keep the water simmering and stir the custard with a wooden spoon until it thickens. It can take up to 15 minutes.
Make sure the water in the pan does not boil vigorously but just simmers away.
If the heat is too high and the custard curdles, remove the pan from the heat and either strain the custard or mix it with a blender.
Once the custard has thickened, let it cool down completely which you can do by immersing the pan into cold water.
You can also cook the custard the day before and let it cool in the fridge overnight.
Top Tips for making French Meringue
The egg whites should be at room temperature
There should be no trace of egg yolk
Bowl and whisk should be completely clean
Add a pinch of salt to the egg white
You can freeze the egg whites you don't you
Top Tips for making Caramel
Never stir, touch or move the pan while the syrup is cooking otherwise it will crystallize, transforming back into sugar
Use a small but heavy and even pan. The heat should distribute evenly as you cannot stir the syrup
Keep the heat to medium, as a vigorous boiling can also crystallize the syrup
Be patient and be vigilant, caramel can burn in seconds