Floating Island

Dessert, Desserts

Light poached meringue floating on vanilla custard, topped with shards of golden almond praline. The meringue melts on your tongue, the custard is silk, and the praline shatters into sweet, nutty pieces. Elegant, classic, and easier than it looks. Brilliant after a rich meal when you want something sweet but not heavy.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 3 hours hrs

Servings 6

Ingredients 

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For the crème anglaise

• 500 ml whole milk
• 1 vanilla pod
• 6 eggs yolk
• 80 gr caster sugar

For the meringue

• 6 eggs whites
• 100 gr caster sugar
• pinch salt

For the caramelized almond brittle (optional)

• 150 gr caster sugar
• 50 ml water
• 50 gr almonds flaked

For the caramel sauce (optional)

• 100 gr caster sugar
• 30 ml water

Equipment

large saucepan for custard

large saucepan for poaching meringue

whisk

sieve

electric mixer

wooden spoon

skimmer spoon

2 small saucepan

spatula

baking tray

parchment paper

double boiler pot optional

frying pan

6 dessert bowls

cling film

kitchen paper

Instructions

1. Make the crème anglaise

• Split the vanilla pod lengthways with a sharp knife. Scrape out the seeds using the back of the knife.

  Put the milk, vanilla pod, and seeds into a large saucepan. Bring to just below boiling point, then immediately turn off the heat. Cover and leave to infuse for 15 minutes.

  Put the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk together for about 2 minutes until pale and slightly thickened, don't overdo it, you just want them combined and lightened.

  Remove the vanilla pod from the milk. Pour the warm milk over the yolk mixture in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs scrambling.

  Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over the lowest possible heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Keep the spoon moving across the base and around the sides, don't stop.

  The custard is ready when it's thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Run your finger across the back of the spoon, if it leaves a clear line that doesn't fill back in, you're done. This takes 5-8 minutes. The temperature should reach 82-84°C if you're using a thermometer.

  Don't let it boil or the eggs will scramble. If you see even the smallest bubble, pull it off the heat immediately. Overheated custard can't be saved.

  Immediately strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Press cling film directly onto the surface to prevent a skin forming. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until completely cold.

2. Make the caramelized almond brittle (optional)

• Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Have your spatula ready, you'll need to work fast once the caramel's done.

  Put 150g sugar and 50ml water in a small, heavy-based saucepan. Stir gently over medium heat until every grain of sugar has dissolved, about 2 minutes. Once dissolved, stop stirring completely.

  Let the syrup bubble away without touching it. Swirl the pan occasionally to distribute the heat, but don't stir. After 8-10 minutes, it'll start turning golden at the edges.

  Keep swirling gently until the whole thing is pale amber, like honey. Don't walk away at this point.

  Add the flaked almonds all at once. Stir quickly with a wooden spoon to coat them in caramel. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the caramel turns deep amber and the almonds smell toasted.

  Immediately pour onto the prepared baking tray. Work fast and spread it as thinly as you can with the spatula, oil or butter the spatula if it's sticking.

  Leave at room temperature to cool completely, takes about 30 minutes.

  Once hard and brittle, break into shards with your hands.

Poach the meringue

• Fill a large, wide saucepan with water about 15cm deep. Heat until it's barely simmering, you want just a few tiny bubbles breaking the surface every second. Around 85°C on a thermometer. Keep it at this temperature throughout.

  In a completely grease-free bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt. Start slow, then increase speed. When they reach soft peaks, start adding the sugar.

  Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, whisking well between each addition. Keep whisking until you have stiff, glossy peaks that hold their shape completely.

  Room temperature egg whites whip better than cold ones. Any trace of grease or yolk will stop them whipping. If in doubt, wipe your bowl with lemon juice or vinegar first, then dry it thoroughly.

  Using two large spoons, shape the meringue into six large oval scoops. Make them quite big, they'll puff up slightly but won't grow much.

  Gently lower them one by one into the barely simmering water. Don't let it boil, if you see more than occasional gentle bubbles, turn the heat down. You might need to poach in two batches depending on pan size.

  Poach for 2 minutes without touching them. Very carefully flip each one over with a skimmer spoon. Poach for another 2 minutes on the second side.

  Lift them out gently with the skimmer spoon, they're delicate, and drain on kitchen paper. Handle them carefully from now on.

  If the water boils, the meringues will collapse or develop holes. Keep it at a bare simmer, absolutely crucial.

Make the caramel sauce

• Put 100g sugar and 30ml water in another small, heavy-based saucepan. Stir gently over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Then stop stirring.

  Let it bubble away, swirling the pan occasionally, until it turns deep amber, darker than the brittle. This takes about 8-10 minutes.

  Remove from the heat as soon as it reaches the right colour. It'll keep cooking in the pan for a few seconds, so don't wait too long.

  Caramel goes from perfect to burnt in seconds. Once it's deep amber, get it off the heat immediately.

Assemble and serve

• Divide the cold crème anglaise between six dessert coupes or bowls, fill them about two-thirds full.

  Carefully place a poached meringue on top of the custard in each bowl. It should float on the surface.

  Drizzle a little warm caramel sauce around the base of each meringue, let it pool in the custard and run down the sides. Don't drown them.

  Place the shards of the almond brittle on top of each meringue.

  Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to 2 hours before serving. The meringues will start to weep if left much longer.

Notes

• Make ahead: Crème anglaise can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept covered in the fridge. Almond brittle keeps for a week in an airtight container at room temperature. Meringues are best poached within a few hours of serving. Assemble just before serving for best results.
• Temperature is everything: Crème anglaise cooks at 82-84°C. Higher than this and it scrambles. Lower and it won’t thicken. Meringues poach at 85°C, a bare simmer. Higher and they’ll collapse. Lower and they won’t cook. If you’re serious about this recipe, buy a sugar thermometer.
• Don’t bin the scraped vanilla pod, rinse it, let it dry completely, then store it in a jar of caster sugar to make vanilla sugar. Takes about a week.

About this recipe

The floating island is the perfect dessert when you’ve had a big meal and still want something sweet at the end. It’s light, it’s delicious, and it never feels too much. You’ll find île flottante on menus all across France, from brasseries to Sunday family tables. It really is a classic, and for good reason.

The name confusion

Did you know that what we call “île flottante” today was originally known as “oeufs à la neige”, which means snow eggs? The original floating island was actually a completely different dish, it was a génoise cake soaked in alcohol, covered in jam and cream, floating on custard. Auguste Escoffier documented this version in his 1903 Guide Culinaire. But somewhere in the decades that followed, the names swapped. The meringue on custard version took the floating island name and kept it. The original génoise version largely disappeared.

So the floating island most people know today is not what Escoffier was writing about at all. But it is the better dessert, and the French have been perfectly happy with the trade. And honestly, so am I.

Why it works so well

The beauty of this dessert is the contrasts of textures. The soft, barely set meringue against the cold silky crème anglaise is just gorgeous. And add to that the crunchy almond brittle (which is optional) against the liquid custard underneath, and at last, the bitter-sweet caramel against the gentle sweetness of the meringue, and you’ve got the perfect dessert. Every spoonful is genuinely different from the last, which is part of what makes it so enjoyable to eat.

The nice thing about this ile flottante recipe is that each part is actually very simple to make on its own. Crème anglaise is just eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla, cooked carefully, the meringues is egg whites and sugar, whipped and poached, and the praline is caramelised sugar and almonds on parchment paper. None of the parts really requires technical skill beyond a little patience and attention. Trust me, you can absolutely do this.

Why this recipe is worth learning

French grandmothers have been making versions of this floating island for generations. It shows up at family gatherings, christenings and celebrations all over France. The brasserie versions in glass coupes are really just the dressed-up presentation of a fundamentally home kitchen dish.

And there’s another reason to learn it: crème anglaise is a foundational French skill, even though the name doesn’t suggest it. If you can master it, you’ll be able to make dozens of other French desserts. The same custard base appears in ice cream, in trifles, in countless other preparations. It’s the same with the caramel and praline. If you get the hang of it for this one dessert, it will open up a significant part of French pâtisserie. It’s a good investment of an afternoon I should say.

You can make it ahead

My favourite things about the floating island is that you can make every single part in advance. The crème anglaise keeps in the fridge for two days. The poached meringues keep for a day. The almond brittle keeps in an airtight container for several days. And the caramel can be made ahead and gently rewarmed when you need it.

So you can prepare everything the day before and assemble it all in elegant glass dessert bowls just before serving. What you put down at the table looks like considerably more work than what went into it. That combination of impressive and easy is really the French entertaining ideal. And it’s exactly why this dessert has been on French tables for so long.