Chocolate Meringue Strawberry Mascarpone

We have kind of fallen into big-lunch-no-dinner trend these days. Or, to be more precise, it's fruit salad or dessert in place of dinner meal. Since I am still in the meringue-chase, it only seems natural to make one more. Although this recipe resembles this previous Chocolate Meringue Cake post. I just had to make it because it looks so beautiful on this website. Instead of using whipped cream as filling, I mixed in with homemade mascarpone, which Adrian has fallen in love with.

This was actually the second time I made this cake. I wasn't happy with my previous attitude - I was being paranoid (I still don't know what to expect from meringue) and impatient. Hence I didn't blog about it. But it tasted so delicious that it deserves a space in my blog.

Adrian liked it even more the second time. He enjoyed the brownie-like chocolate cake layer, and the not-over-the-top sweet mascarpone filling. I just really like how I had the chocolate drizzled around it, and that it looked very beautiful.

Ingredients:
(4" x 6" casserole dish)
Chocolate cake layer

• 50g butter
• 1/3 cup cane sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• small pinch of salt
• 1 1/4 Tablespoon cocoa powder
• 45ml milk

1. Preheat oven at 160C. Grease a 4" x 6" casserole pan.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Set aside.
3. Beat butter until creamy. Add sugar and beat till fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla extract to beat.
4. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture. Fold in milk. Pour and layer over prepared pan. Set aside.
   

Meringue layer

• 1 egg white
• 1/3 cup powdered cane sugar
• 1/4 cup flaked almonds

1. Start beating egg white at low speed until soft peaks form.
   
2. Add sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until hard peaks form.
3. Spoon over chocolate cake layer. Sprinkle with flaked almonds.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the meringue is crispy on the outside.
   

Mascarpone layer

• 1/3 homemade mascarpone
• 100mL fresh cream
• 1 - 2 tablespoons powdered cane sugar
• 100 gram strawberries, chopped, reserve 2 for garnish

1. Pour cream and sugar to a bowl and keep in freezer, together with beater attachments, for 5 minutes.
2. Beat cream to form stiff peaks. Fold in chopped strawberries and mascarpone.

Assembly

• mint leaves
• dark chocolate
• butter
  

1. Melt butter and chocolate together over waterbath (or microwave).
   
2. Slice chocolate meringue into 4 quarters. Place one quarter, chocolate side up, to one serving plate. Pile it up with some mascarpone filling. Sandwich it with another quarter, meringue side up. Top it with a spoonful of mascarpone filling and decorate with fresh strawberry and mint leaves. Repeat with the other quarters.
3. Drizzle with melted chocolate to serve.