Thoroughly Modern Meringue

Imagine layers of creamy chocolate ganache, butter cream and whipped cream sandwiched between light, crisp sheets of meringue. It’s a special treat for your eyes and sweet fulfillment for your palate. It’s the perfect holiday dessert.

Unlike a lot of classic French pastries, marjolaine was created in this century. It’s the invention of Ferdinand Point, chef of the famous restaurant La Pyramide, who died only 42 years ago.

Point’s version is made with a hazelnut meringue and served as a four-layered rectangle, but don’t let that restrict you. You can use ground almonds instead of hazelnuts in the meringue if you’d like. I chose to flavor the butter cream with coffee, but I have seen orange, raspberry and even peanut butter versions. The shape is also yours to choose.

MARJOLAINE

NUT MERINGUE

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

2/3 cup ground hazelnuts or almonds

7 egg whites

1 cup granulated sugar

GANACHE

1/2 pound semisweet chopped chocolate or chocolate pieces

1 cup heavy whipping cream

BUTTER CREAM

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup water

5 egg yolks

1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened and cut into 12 pieces

WHIPPED CREAM

1 cup whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Twelve-inch triangles, 6x10-inch rectangles and 7 1/2-inch squares are good shapes for this amount of meringue.

NUT MERINGUE

Draw dessert shape of choice on 5 pieces parchment paper. (You need only 4 meringues, but because meringues are fragile, it’s good to have extra.) Put parchment paper on baking sheet, 2 per pan if design will fit.

Combine powdered sugar, cornstarch and nuts.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add granulated sugar while beating. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Put meringue in very large bowl. Pour nut mixture on top and gently fold in. Stop folding before completely incorporated.

Spread meringue, no thicker than 1/4 inch, on parchment paper pieces. Bake at 275 degrees 1 hour. Remove from oven and cool.

*

GANACHE

Put chocolate in heat-proof bowl.

Bring cream to boil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour cream over chocolate, stirring until blended. Let sit until spreadable consistency, about 1 hour. (Refrigerate if necessary or set bowl of ganache in larger bowl of ice water and stir just until desired consistency. If it gets too hard, it will be difficult to spread and may break meringue.)

*

BUTTER CREAM

Put sugar in saucepan and add water, stirring to incorporate. Wash down sides of pan with damp pastry brush. Cook over medium-high heat, beating continuously, until it reaches soft ball stage, 235 degrees on candy thermometer. (To test for softball stage without thermometer, drop 1 teaspoon into ice water. If it forms soft ball when picked up with fingers, it is ready.)

Beat egg yolks with electric mixer until they are thick and light yellow, about 5 minutes. Slowly drizzle in sugar mixture while continuing to beat. Add instant espresso and continue beating until mixture cools, about 10 minutes. To cool quickly, put bowl in larger bowl of ice water and keep beating until cool. Mixture should be cool or just warm to touch.

Beat in butter 1 piece at a time. It’s not necessary to wait until each piece is fully incorporated before adding next. Beat until mixture reaches spreadable consistency, about 2 minutes. Set aside.

This makes enough frosting to fill 1 layer. If you want to decorate sides of cake with frosting, double recipe.

WHIPPED CREAM

Whip cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form, being careful not to over-beat.

ASSEMBLY

Remove 1 meringue gently from parchment paper and carefully place on cake platter. Spread 1/2 Ganache over meringue. Place 2nd meringue on top of Ganache. Spread with Butter Cream. Place 3rd meringue on top of butter cream. Spread with Whipped Cream. Top with 4th meringue and spread with remaining 1/2 Ganache. (If decorating sides, do not spread with top layer of Ganache until sides are decorated.) Chill thoroughly, about 4 hours.

8 to 10 servings. Each of 8 servings:

934 calories; 249 mg sodium; 299 mg cholesterol; 58 grams fat; 104 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams protein; 0.41 gram fiber.

Decorating Ideas

*Trim edges of cake evenly with a serrated knife. Spread sides only with a thin layer of butter cream and chill 15 to 30 minutes. When the frosting is firm on the sides, add another layer of butter cream for a smooth finish. Pat toasted nuts or chocolate shavings into butter cream if desired.

*Make chocolate curls or shavings to place on top.

*Pipe butter cream or ganache decoratively on cake with pastry bag.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Safer Butter Cream

The Butter Cream recipe contains raw egg yolks, which can be a source of salmonella. This is especially dangerous for the very young, the very old and those with impaired immune systems. But salmonella can be killed by heat.

For a safer butter cream frosting, after beating hot sugar mixture into eggs, place mixing bowl over saucepan of simmering water to make double boiler and whisk until temperature reaches 145 degrees and remains there 4 minutes. Continue with recipe, adding the instant espresso and beating until mixture cools.