Makes one 20x30cm cake.
- Prep time: 40min
- Cook time: 1h 40min
- Total time: 2h 30min
- Difficulty: Intermediate
Be careful with the meringue layer of the cake. If you overbake it, it will dry out and crumble once you try to cut it in half. This cake needs to be chilled over night before cutting and serving.
For the Meringue layers.
Ingredients:
- 5 egg whites
- pinch of salt
- 250g caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 125°C. Line a 30x40cm baking sheet with parchment paper.
In clean dry mixing bowl, combine egg whites and salt. Beat egg whites until frothy and then gradually start adding caster sugar. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 4 minutes. Add cornstarch and lemon juice and beat on high speed for 2 minutes. The mixture should be stiff, silky and shiny.
Spread the meringue mixture evenly onto baking sheet. Try to smooth out the surface as much as you can using a spatula. Bake for approximately 90 minutes. Once the meringue is done alow it to cool completely before removing parchment paper. Then cut it in half horizontaly so that you get two meringue layers, 20x30cm each.
Basic cream filling.
Ingredients:
- 5 egg yolks
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 20g vanilla sugar
- 9 tablespoons cornflour
- 1 liter milk
- 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
- 200g butter, at room temperature
For the chocolate hazelnut filling.
Ingredients:
- 150g dark chocolate, melted
- 80g toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
For the white cocolate mocha filling.
Ingredients:
- 100g white chocolate, melted
- 1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee
- 1 tablespoon dark rum
Directions:
Whisk together egg yolks, sugar and vanilla sugar until light and frothy. Add cornflour and a few tablespoons of milk. Mix well until you get a smooth mixture. Pour the rest of the milk into a saucepan. Add vanilla seeds and vanilla pod and cook until it starts to boil. Remove vanilla pod and pour the egg yolk mixture into hot milk. Cook on low heat, whisking continuously, until it thickens. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Cream butter in your stand mixer and mix it into cream filling. Divide the filling into two equal parts.
Mix melted dark chocolate and chopped hazelnuts into one half of the filling. Dissolve coffee in a tablespoon or rum and stir it into the other half of the filling. Add melted white chocolate and combine.
For the mocha whipped cream.
Ingredients:
- 300ml heavy whipping cream
- 10g vanilla sugar
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee
Directions:
In a bowl, combine heavy cream, vanilla sugar and coffee powder. Whisk until soft peaks form.
Assembly.
Place one meringue layer on a serving plate. Spread white chocolate mocha filling over it and top with another meringue layer. Spread the chocolate hazelnut filling over. Top with mocha whipped cream and spread thin layer of the cream over the sides of cake. Sprinkle with chopped chocolate if desired.
Chill the cake over night before cutting and serving.
Commentary:
Category: Cakes
After a suprisingly successful flirt with meringue and Chocolate Cinnamon & Hazelnut Meringue Cookies, I mustered the courage to try one more meringue recipe. This time I opted for a lovely creamy cake with meringue layers. I was blown away, not just with the taste and texture of the layers, but also with the abiliy of meringues to soak up some of that creamyfilling and turn into a moist and fluffy cake layers.