Meringue Base For Chocolate Truffle Cake

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Meringue Truffle Cake (from FEAST ) is a thin disc of slightly chewy meringue that is topped with a rich truffle mixture. The base is intentionally thin and acts not only as a carrier for the topping, but also as a contrasting texture to the smooth, rich truffle. The cake needs to be refrigerated to keep the filling firm, but the slightly damp atmosphere in the fridge will soften the meringue over time as the sugar in the meringue will attract moisture. To slow this down a little make sure that the cake is covered when it is in the fridge.

The centre of a thicker meringue disc will be quite chewy and sticky, which may make the cake more difficult to cut and not such a pleasant contrast. However if you did want to make a thicker base then you need to double all of the meringue ingredients. The baking time shouldn't be quite double, but if the meringue is taking 20 minutes in your oven then you will probably need to add an extra 10 minutes to the baking time. The surface of the meringue needs to be properly dried out, so check the meringue before removing it from the oven and if the centre looks a little damp then bake for an extra 5 minutes more, or until the surface looks uniformly dry. Please note that as we have not tested this option we regret that we are unable to guarantee the results.