Recently I did a TBT review of The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook. The subtitle of the book is “Recipes from the Classic Cookie to Mocha Chip Meringue Cake.” Here’s that cake, in all its glory.
This is the perfect summer delight. Perfect if the day is not humid. You need to make meringue and a humid day is the enemy of meringue. So pray for heat and low humidity and when that day arrives, get your whipping cream ready.
You make layers of meringue and separate them with layers of chocolate whipped cream and coffee whipped cream. You make it, you look at what you made, you take pictures and post them, and then you get a fork. And you wonder how soon there will be another day with low humidity.
Mocha Chip Meringue Cake
Yield: serves 12
Ingredients:
The Cake:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 5 large egg whites, at room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ⅔cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup (6 ounces) miniature semisweet chocolate chips
Chocolate Whipped Cream:
- ⅓ cup bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1 ½ cups cold heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Coffee Whipped Cream:
- ¾ cup cold heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Finishing:
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Preparation:
Make the cake. Position the racks in the middle and upper third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 275° F. Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper to fit 2 baking sheets. Trace two 8-inch circles on one piece and one 8-inch circle on the other piece. Line the baking sheets with the parchment, marked side down.
Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into a small bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until the whites are foamy and the cream of tartar dissolves. On medium speed, beat until the egg whites look shiny and smooth and the movement of the beaters forms lines in the beaten whites. If you stop the mixer and lift up the beaters, the whites should cling to the beaters. Slowly beat in the granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, then beat for about 1 minute. With the mixer on low speed, sprinkle the powdered sugar mixture over the egg whites and mix in. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the chocolate chips.
Use a thin metal spatula to spread about 1 ¼ cups of the meringue mixture in each marked circle. You will use about three-quarters of the meringue mixture for the circles. Spread the remaining meringue mixture in a freeform shape about 1/2‑inch thick on the baking sheet that has the single meringue. This meringue will be crushed after baking to garnish the top of the cake.
Bake until the meringues feel crisp and dry if touched lightly, about 1 hour. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues in the oven for 1 hour.
Remove the baking sheets from the oven and cool the meringues completely on the baking sheets, about 30 minutes.
Make the chocolate whipped cream. Put the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler and place it over a saucepan of barely simmering water (or the bottom of the double boiler); the water should not touch the bowl. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the water, scrape the chocolate into a large bowl if you used a double boiler, and set aside to cool slightly while you make the coffee whipped cream.
Make the coffee whipped cream. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the cream, coffee powder, powdered sugar, and vanilla until firm peaks form. (The coffee will dissolve as the cream whips.) Set aside.
In a clean large bowl, using clean beaters, beat the cream, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Whisk about 1 cup of the whipped cream into the chocolate until smoothly blended. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the remaining whipped cream.
Spread a tablespoon of chocolate whipped cream in the center of a plate or cardboard cake circle to prevent the cake from sliding around on the plate. Place a meringue layer smooth side down on the plate. Use a thin metal spatula to spread about 1 cup of the chocolate whipped cream evenly over the meringue. Top with another meringue layer and spread the coffee I whipped cream over it. Top the cake with the remaining meringue layer, top side up. Spread the remaining chocolate whipped cream evenly over the top of the cake.
Use your hands to crush the meringue for the garnish into pieces up to ½ inch in size and sprinkle them over the top of the cake. Sift powdered sugar lightly over the top of the cake.
Use a large sharp knife to cut into slices.
The cake can be covered and refrigerated overnight.
Source: The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook by Elinor Klivans [Chronicle, 2008]