PARTY OF 5, PART 3

My first and enduring love will always be Rick Stein, and so it should come as no surprise that I would turn to Rick for a dessert selection. And he has yet to fail me, think ferrero-esque crisp meringue and a chocolaty cheesecake type filling.
Otherwise known as Hazelnut Chocolate Dacquoise.

I preheated the oven to 200 degrees, and roasted 50g of whole hazelnuts for about 6 minutes, removed them from the oven and tipped them into a tea towel, rubbing the hazelnuts to remove the skins, Then blitzed them to a medium/ fine chop. And dropped the oven temperature to 110 degrees.

In a glass bowl a whipped 5 egg whites to stiff peaks and whisked in 225g of cater sugar to create a glossy, stiff meringue. The next step is to fold in all but a tsp of the blitzed hazelnuts, the create an almost ferrero type taste and aroma. Top one meringue with the reserved hazelnut, this will be the top ;ayer of the cake.

To cook the meringue, divide the mixture into 3 equal portions, forming 3 20cm circles on baking paper (to do this use a 20cm round cake tin and trace the base on baking paper with a pencil to make a 20cm circle, repeat 3 times on 3 pieces of baking paper).
Bake the meringue disks for 2 hours and then turn off the oven, letting the meringues cool completely in the oven. (the disks keep really well, so you can make these several days in advance).

To make the filling melt 100g of good quality plain chocolate, with only 50% cocoa solids (I used valrhona). To melt the chocolate, simmer a pot of water and place a glass bowl with the chocolate, over the pot, but don't let the water touch the bowl. Let the chocolate melt and add 150mls of créme fraiche, and mix well.
In a separate bowl whip 150mls of double cream until just beginning to thicken and fold through the chocolate, créme fraiche mixture. (if the chocolate mix is very runny refrigerate briefly to thicken the filling to make the dessert construction easier)



To construct the daquoise top one of the meringue disks with half the chocolate mixture, place another meringue on top and spread with the remaining half of the chocolate and finally top with the top meringue that was dusted with the extra crushed hazelnuts.

the cake is now assembled and needs to be refrigerated before serving to soften the meringue slightly whilst firming up the chocolate filling.

Rick is quite adamant that you not assemble the cake more than 2 hours before you intend to serve the dessert. But I think that if it goes into the fridge as your guests are arriving, 2 hours or more doesn't really matter, as long as you don't forget about it.