Floating Island Dessert

This easy 4-ingredient Floating Island Dessert recipe with fluffy, sweet poached meringue floating on creamy vanilla custard.

It’s a dreamy French dessert for French recipe lovers.

As a French girl, this French island dessert really means something to me because it was the dessert my grandma Maria cooked for me after school when I was a kid.

The best part of this recipe is it’s easy to turn it sugar-free by using the appropriate sugar-free sweetener. 

But here, I am sharing the authentic French floating island dessert recipe to make you travel to France from your home.

What is Floating Island Dessert?

A floating island, also known as Ile Flottante in French,  is a French dessert made of a vanilla custard topped with sweet whipped egg whites cooked in a bain-marie.

The whipped egg white floats onto the custard and looks like a floating island.

The floating island dessert toppings are often a drizzle of caramel sauce, sliced almonds, or coconut.

How To Make A Floating Island Dessert

A floating island dessert requires some patience and cooking skills, but it’s pretty easy to make if you follow the tips and steps below.

Ingredients for Ile Flottante

An Ile Flottante, as French people call this dessert, is a two-step recipe using only 4 simple ingredients.

All you need to make this lovely French island dessert recipe are:

• Large eggs – separated, you need to split egg yolk from egg white to make this French dessert recipe.
• Full-fat milk – you can use trim milk as well, but the custard won’t be as rich, thick, and creamy.
• Granulated Sweetener of choice –  the original recipe uses white sugar. If you want to make a sugar-free version of this dessert, use erythritol, it works as well.
• Vanilla extract or seeds from a fresh vanilla bean.

Making the light Vanilla Custard

The light vanilla custard, also called creme Anglaise, is the base of any good French Island dessert. It’s prepared like custard, but its texture is slightly thinner and runnier.

So first, prepare the light vanilla custard. If you have never made a custard before, it’s not complicated, but it requires precision.

First, split the egg yolks from the egg whites. Set aside the egg whites in a bowl at room temperature for later in the recipe.

In the bowl with egg yolks, add sugar. Then, beat them with an electric beater at high speed until whiter in color and fluffy – it takes about 1 minute.

Set this aside.

Heating The Milk

In a saucepan, under medium heat up the milk and vanilla, and bring to a light boil. Remove from the heat.

Now the tricky part is to add the hot milk into the beaten egg slowly to avoid ‘cooking’ the eggs.

So first, temper the eggs by adding one tablespoon of the hot milk into the egg mixture and whisk vigorously to combine.

Repeat this step one more time.

Now that the eggs are tempered, pour the egg mixture from the bowl into the saucepan.

Return to medium-low heat (no boil!), constantly stir until the custard thickens, and coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Cool the custard at room temperature in a large bowl. Then, film the bowl with plastic wrap, making sure the wrap touches the custard, and refrigerate.

Poached meringue

The best part of Floating Island dessert is the fluffy cloudy meringues on top! To make these, you need:

• A pot with boiled water.
• Egg whites – the ones you split at the beginning of the recipe.

First, bring one liter of water to a boil in a large saucepan.

Cover, and reduce heat to a very light boil. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, beat egg white on high speed for about 45 seconds or until they start to firm up.

Stop the beater, add sugar and keep beating until a stiff peak forms.

Now, uncover the saucepan and scoop out some stiffed egg white – about 1/4 cup of drop it onto the light boiling water.

Use a skimmer to plunge the egg white, and cook for 30 seconds on each side.

Finally, drain the cooked poached meringue with a slotted spoon, place it on a plate and leave to cool.

Some people also love to plunge the cooked egg whites into a bowl of cold water. This is up to you depending on how you want to serve this dessert – lukewarm or cold.

Repeat until all the egg whites are cooked.

Assembling the Floating Island

There are two ways to serve this floating islands recipe:

• Cold – Store the custard and cooked poached eggs in the fridge in an airtight container for a few hours before serving.
• Lukewarm – Some French restaurants serve the custard cold with lukewarm poached eggs. In this case, prepare the custard a few hours or the day before serving.

French Floating Island Toppings

A French Floating Island is always served in individual serving bowls and topped with some of these:

• Raspberries or strawberries
• Sliced almonds
• Coconut
• A drizzle of homemade caramel sauce

More French Recipes

I love to share the authentic French recipes my mum cooked for me as a kid. Below are a few more French-style recipes you may want to try!

Crepes Suzette

Liege Waffles

Madeleine Recipe

Ratatouille Recipe

French Buckwheat Crepes

Spinach Quiche

French Crepe Recipe

Keto French Almond Cake

French Green Beans

Keto French Onion Soup

Have you made this French island dessert? Share a review or comment below. I love to hear back from you!

Floating Island Dessert

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5.1gNet Carbs

Floating Island Dessert is an easy 4-ingredient French dessert recipe made of a light vanilla custard called creme Anglaise and topped with clouds of sweetened poached meringue floating on top.

Author: Carine Claudepierre

Prep: 15 mins

Cooling down 1 hr

Total: 1 hr 15 mins

Yield: 6 people

Serving Size: 1 serve (with sugar free sweetener)

Nutrition

Net Carbs 5.1g

Fat 7.6g

Protein 7.5g

Calories 120.7kcal

4.99 from 286 votes

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Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

Light vanilla custard

• ▢ 2 cups Milk full-fat milk is the best
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Vanilla Pod or 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• ▢ 4 Egg Yolks
• ▢ ⅔ cup Granulated Sweetener of choice or erythritol if sugar-free

Poached Meringue

• ▢ 4 Egg Whites
• ▢ 3 tablespoons Granulated Sweetener of choice or erythritol if sugar-free

Decoration

• ▢ 2 tablespoons Sliced Almonds per serving
• ▢ ¼ cup Raspberries fresh or defrost

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Instructions

Prepare the Light Vanilla Custard

• Split the egg yolks and egg whites into two separate large bowls. Set aside the bowl with the egg whites for later. 
• In the egg yolk bowl, add the sugar. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolk and sugar for 30/45 seconds or until lighter in color and fluffy. Stop beating. Set aside at room temperature
• In a saucepan, under medium heat, bring milk and vanilla seeds to a light boil. Remove from heat
• Temper the egg yolk by adding 1 tablespoon of the hot milk into the egg yolk bowl. Whisk vigorously while adding to prevent the egg from cooking. Repeat this step one more time.
• Now that the eggs are tempered, pour the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan with the hot milk.
• Return the saucepan under low-medium heat, stirring constantly, and gently with a wooden spoon until the custard thickened – about 6-8minutes. Be patient! It takes time. It should be creamy but liquid, cover the back of the spoon but not as thick as a pudding.
• Remove from the heat, cool it down in a bowl at room temperature, then film the bowl with plastic wrap, making sure the wrap touches the custard (this prevents the custard from crusting in the fridge). Refrigerate for 2-3 hours to fully cool down.

Preparing and poaching the meringue

• In a large saucepan, bring 1 liter of water to boil, cover, reduce to a light boil.
• Meanwhile, beat the remaining egg whites at high speed in the other large mixing bowl. Beat for 45 seconds, or until it starts to firm up. Then, stop and add sugar.
• Beat again at high speed until a stiff peak forms. Set aside.
• Using a slotted spoon, scoop out some meringue mixture – about 1/4 cup, and plunge into the boiled water. Cook/poach for 30 seconds on both sides, then plunge into a bowl of cold water or set aside on a plate. Some people like to serve the meringue cold, others lukewarm, so choose your option.

Serving instructions

• Split the vanilla custard into 6 serving bowls.
• Top up with the poached meringue and decorate with a drizzle of melted chocolate, homemade caramel, sliced almonds, or raspberries.

The nutrition panel is for one serving using full-fat canned coconut milk and sugar-free crystal sweetener you can also use regular milk to half the calories but it will up the net carbs to 6.6g per serving (here 3.7g).

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Nutrition Facts

Floating Island Dessert

Amount Per Serving (1 serve (with sugar free sweetener))

Calories 120.7 Calories from Fat 68

% Daily Value*

Fat 7.6g12%

Saturated Fat 2.8g18%

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Monounsaturated Fat 3g

Cholesterol 139.4mg46%

Sodium 70mg3%

Potassium 199.7mg6%

Carbohydrates 5.8g2%

Fiber 0.7g3%

Sugar 4.5g5%

Protein 7.5g15%

Net Carbs 5.1g

Vitamin A 306.5IU6%

Vitamin B12 0.7µg12%

Vitamin C 1.3mg2%

Vitamin D 1.5µg10%

Calcium 127.1mg13%

Iron 0.5mg3%

Magnesium 22.7mg6%

Zinc 0.7mg5%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.