making a meringue heart sculpture for valentine’s day

and a few kinds of victorian gift-giving traditions that inspired it

last year for valentine’s day i made théo a giant meringue heart. when lifted from the parchment it was baked on, it revealed a sweet message (see the image below). it was inspired by the history of valentine’s day cards and their aesthetic evolution over the years, as well as conversation heart candies which have a similar recipe to meringue.

the title for the accompanying substack write-up i did for it, “ephemeral valentine’s cards” came from a quote in an article i had read on the ultra-ornate cobweb valentine’s day cards of the victorian era. described as, “far from being ephemeral trifles, these were cherished mementos.” as someone who shares both their artistic inclinations and love for their friends and family through food, an inherently ephemeral medium, the quote got me thinking, isn’t there something sweet about someone spending a whole bunch of time and effort making something that is not intended to last forever? isn’t there something so romantic and silly about all that work for a fleeting moment?

the thought stuck with me, and this year i have decided to re-tool my meringue valentine’s day card and make one inspired by 3-d over the top victorian valentines day cards (see image below). unlike these cards though, it will be made to be ephemeral, and like last years card this one too would be made out of meringue.

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valentine’s cards from the london museum collection (all dated from 1850-1900)

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i chose to use meringue in part because my valentine loves it and i would be continuing what has become somewhat of a tradition, but also because i already had meringue hearts on the brain as i was testing recipes for bisou bisou, a high tea valentine’s pop up happening later this week (sneak peek below from the meringue testing for the event).

while i would have loved to recreate the multi-layered cards out of many layers of meringue, i knew my clunky hands and poor piping skills would make it impossible – i would certainly break the thin and lacy meringue trying to lift it from the parchment paper. so the more standard card was a no-go, and instead became inspired by the cage-like shape of cobweb valentine’s day cards (see below). but instead of making a cobweb (not so valentines-y) i would make a heart shape.

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anonymous (american or british, 19th century). cobweb valentine, 1830–40.

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i had to make a template for the heart structure, as i could not pipe something freehand that needed to be so symmetrical. i made the design, consisting of 3 hearts (one large outer one, a smaller one in the center, and another as a foot to hold the sculpture up) in a google doc, and then printed it out. i laid the design underneath some parchment paper, whipped up a batch of meringue (you can find my meringue recipe here), dyed it three different shades of pink, and got to piping. i piped each design six times (truthfully, knowing myself and my clumsy hands, i should have piped more to account for breakage) and baked the hearts up. I saved the excess meringue to use as glue later.

once the meringue pieces had baked off and cooled, i lifted them from the parchment and deliberated which pieces mirrored each other best. i, of course, promptly broke about half of them (and despite my efforts to pipe identical pieces, some were a tad wider than others). i probably should have started over, but i didn’t and i decided to keep the cracks and glue them together with the remaining meringue. then it was back into the oven to get the ‘meringue-glue’ to set.

once this was done, it was time to shave the meringue pieces so they could all fit together. i then ‘meringue-glued’ them together for one final bake. finally, it was time to (photo and) gift the heart structure to my valentine, giving it to him this morning before heading off to nemacolin resort to begin prep for our high tea pop-up next weekend (tickets here).

yet again, i did not succeed in making the ephemeral valentine’s day card of my wishes and dreams: last year’s concept was a little clunky, and this one was not flat and had no writing. it was, however, appreciated by théo, and an expression of my love for him. which is really all that matters! maybe next year i’ll finally make the valentine’s day card i’ve been hoping to create…