Sunday Spoil: Flourless chocolate meringue cake

Serves 6

You’ll need:
Flourless chocolate cake – 80g chocolate, finely chopped; 125ml Lancewood Mascarpone; 80ml sugar; 5ml vanilla essence; 2ml salt; 2 large eggs; 75ml cocoa powder, sifted
Meringue – 3 large eggs, whites only; 125ml castor sugar; a pinch of salt; 5ml vanilla essence; 5ml vinegar; 10ml corn flour; 80g dark chocolate, chopped

How to:

Flourless chocolate cake:

• Preheat the oven to 175°C and line a 20cm cake pan with baking paper. Do not trim the edges.
• Melt the chocolate and mascarpone together in the microwave at 30 second intervals. Stir after every internal – this should take about 1 minute. Stir until smooth.
• Pour into a large bowl and whisk in the sugar, vanilla essence and salt.
• Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and add it to the chocolate mixture. Mix until smooth.
• Add the cocoa powder and whisk until well blended.
• Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 18 minutes.

Meringue:

• Start with the meringue about 8 minutes before the cake comes out of the oven.
• Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the sugar, salt and vanilla essence.
• Beat until glossy and soft peaks form. Add the vinegar and corn flour and blend in.
• Melt the chocolate and leave it to cool slightly.
• Remove the cake from the oven.
• Working quickly, fold the chocolate into the meringue to create chocolate streaks. Spoon on top of the cake and spread out.
• Return to the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes. Leave to cool before lifting it out of the pan.
• Cool completely and remove the baking paper. Serve with a dollop of mascarpone.

* Recipe & image by Lancewood.