Serves 6

 Dacquoise meringue

50g Lindt dark chocolate, chopped finely
100g sultanas, chopped
200g caster sugar
4 free-range egg whites (about 140g)
2 tsp Dutch cocoa powder, sifted
150g roasted and peeled Australian hazelnuts, crushed
75g almond meal
½ tbsp white vinegar
1 punnet strawberries (thinly sliced)

Chocolate cream
50g Lindt dark chocolate, finely chopped (to make a ganache)
100ml cream (to make a ganache)
250ml cream
¼ tsp vanilla bean paste
Baking paper

Heat oven to 190C

Method – Ganache

Place the 50g of chopped chocolate into a mixing bowl.  Bring 100ml of cream to the boil and pour over the chocolate, stir until the chocolate has melted. Put aside to cool for later use.

Method – Create the dacquoise/meringues

1. On four pieces of baking paper, trace the outline of a 20cm cake tin. Spray the bottom of four flat baking trays with cooking spray and lay the baking paper on top, circle side up. (That helps the baking paper stick to the tray so that it will not fly up in a fan-forced oven!)

2. Chop chocolate and sultanas finely.

3. Blitz hazelnuts in the food processor.

4. Place the egg whites in a large clean mixing bowl and whisk on full speed until stiff peaks form. Slowly add caster sugar in small amounts and whisk to dissolve after each addition. Whisk until all the sugar is dissolved.

5. Using a large metal spoon gently fold through the sifted cocoa powder, 100g crushed hazelnuts, almond meal and chopped chocolate/sultana mix. Add vinegar and finish gently folding through.

6. Evenly divide the dacquoise mixture between the four round circles on the baking paper/trays, smoothing out the tops with a pallet knife.

7. Place all trays in the oven at the same time.

8. Cook for 15 minutes, check to see if the trays need rotating in the oven, bake for a further five minutes.

9. When the dacquoise feel just set on top and show a little colour on their edges, remove from the oven to cool on the trays for 10 minutes. Then carefully peel off the baking paper and continue to cool on racks.

Note: Assemble only when completely cooled.

10. Whip the remaining 250ml of cream for the chocolate cream filling on medium speed. When the cream starts to thicken, add the vanilla bean paste and chocolate ganache mixture and  turn the speed up a little higher to  prevent the cream/chocolate mix from splitting. Whip to soft peaks.

11. Assemble the dacquoise on your serving plate. Begin with one meringue layer then one of cream, and one of fresh strawberry slices. Repeat until you have four sets of layers. Top the last layer with chocolate cream. Smooth out the cream with a pallet knife and garnish with remaining crushed hazelnuts and grated chocolate.

To serve

Serve with extra fresh strawberries or berries and Jones Classic Rutherglen Muscat.

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