Authentic Île Flottante Recipe France, Europe
JUMP TO RECIPEWe strongly advise you to read the cooking tips before jumping to the recipe though
Introduction & history
Unlike most classic French desserts, île flottante or floating island is surprisingly simple to make and requires only basic culinary skills and ingredients. Its preparation can be divided into four steps: making the meringue, preparing the vanilla custard cream or crème Anglaise, cooking the caramel, and assembling. The meringue is prepared by mixing the egg whites, sugar, and a pinch of salt into a firm snow, and baking it shortly in the oven in a bain-marie. To make the vanilla custard, the milk with a scraped vanilla pod or some vanilla extract is slowly brought to a boil, while the egg yolks are beaten with sugar to become fluffy and pale yellow. The mixture of egg yolk and sugar is poured into the vanilla-flavored milk and cooked over low heat until it thickens. In a separate saucepan, sugar and water are boiled together until a caramel syrup is formed. Finally, there are two ways to serve and assemble the floating island. One way is to ... Read more
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Cooking tips
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eggs
It is easier to separate the egg whites from the egg yolks if you are using cold eggs straight out of the refrigerator. However, the egg whites warmed to room temperature tend to form a fluffier snow. Therefore, separate the egg whites from the egg yolks while the eggs are still cold, and let the egg whites warm up to room temperature for at least half an hour before beating them. -
sugar
When mixing sugar with egg whites for the meringue, make sure you use caster sugar or superfine sugar. Add it gradually to prevent the snow from deflating. -
meringue
It is crucial that not a single fleck of egg yolk ends up in the egg whites for your meringue — otherwise, the egg white snow will deflate. Crack your eggs on a flat surface, and not on the edge of a bowl. This will prevent the shell from puncturing the yolk. Also, try to avoid preparing the meringue on humid, rainy days, because sugar absorbs the moisture from the air, hence making it almost impossible ... Read more -
custard
The custard is usually prepared with milk, although some recipes suggest using cream for a thicker consistency. Scrape a vanilla pod into the milk or add some vanilla extract, and bring to a boil over low heat. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar separately, and add them to the milk slowly to prevent lumps from forming. If the custard becomes lumpy, simply strain it into a clean, large bowl. The density ... Read more
Recipe variations
Classic Île Flottante
PREP 25min
COOK 30min
READY IN 55min
This recipe was adapted from cuisine.larousse.fr and shows how to make a traditional île flottante which consists of one large piece of ring-shaped meringue floating in a bowl of vanilla custard.
Ingredients
Classic Île Flottante
800 ml milk
1 vanilla bean
8 egg yolks
8 egg whites
1 pinch salt
290 g caster sugar (divided: 40 g + 250 g)
FOR CARAMEL
100 g caster sugar
2 tbsp water
Preparation
Classic Île Flottante
Split the vanilla bean and scrape it into the milk. Bring the milk to a boil, and in the meantime break the eggs, separating the egg whites from the egg yolks.
Now, prepare the meringue. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Whisk the egg whites into a firm snow with a pinch of salt and 40 g sugar, added gradually. Transfer the whisked egg whites into a savarin mold 22 cm in diameter. Place the mold into a bain-marie and bake for 30 minutes, until the top begins to brown slightly. Let it cool completely.
Meanwhile, whip 8 egg yolks and 250 g of sugar in a large bowl until they become light and fluffy. Heat the vanilla-flavored milk and pour it slowly over this mixture, stirring constantly. Transfer the custard into a cooking pot and cook over low heat, until it thickens. Now, pour the custard into a large bowl whose diameter is larger than the one of the savarin mold, and place in a refrigerator to cool completely.
Remove the meringue from the mold and put it on top of the custard.
Now, prepare the caramel. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt sugar in water over very low heat. After it has melted, increase the heat slightly and bring to a boil. Do not stir, but rather tip the saucepan to distribute the heat. Drizzle the caramel over the meringue. Refrigerate until the île flottante is ready to be served.
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