Chocolate liquorice meringue and whipped cream is a fantastic way to make a delicious cherry taste even better. These meringues are the dense chewy kind rather than the light ones, which are sometimes too dry for my liking. A little liquorice gives a warmth and depth to the chocolate meringue, but you can just as easily leave it out.
Chocolate liquorice meringues with cream and cherries
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 3 medium egg whites
- 150g soft dark brown sugar
- 30g cocoa powder
- 40g soft black liquorice sweets, chopped very finely
- 125g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- ¼ tsp salt
- 200ml whipping cream
- 200g cherries
- 30g dark chocolate
Method
- Preheat the oven to 110C/Gas¼.
- Place the chocolate and the liquorice bits in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of just simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water).
- Once melted take off the heat and leave to cool for 5 mins.
- In the meantime, begin to whisk the egg whites with the salt until very frothy, then gradually crumble in the sugar while whisking continually.
- Whisk until the egg whites reach quite firm peaks.
- Sift in the cocoa powder and pour in the cooled melted chocolate.
- Fold until the cocoa powder and chocolate are incorporated.
- Spoon six heaps onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
- Bake for 1hour 15 mins or until crisp and dry on the outside.
- Whip the cream to soft peaks.
- Cut the cherries in half (keep stalks on for decoration).
- To serve, crumble the meringue along the serving plate (mix it up with some large pieces and some small ones).
- Place the whipped cream in a piping bag and make dots of cream randomly on the plate.
- Dress with the cherry halves and use a vegetable peeler or a grater to add little flakes of chocolate to the top.
- Tips: Don’t over fold the meringue with the chocolate and cocoa powder. You want to keep as much air in as possible.
