Recipes / By

choco sylvanas

Ingredients:

Merengue:

  • 6 egg whites (room temperature)
  • 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 cups finely chopped cashew
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Chocolate Buttercream:

  • 6 egg yolks (room temperature)
  • 1 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 cups of unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup melted dark chocolate

Garnish:

  • 1/2 cup ground cashew mixed with chocolate cake crumbs or Oreo crumbs

Instructions

Merengue:

  1. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and prepare a piping bag with a plain tip.
  2. Preheat your home or bakery oven to 300F.
  3. In a grease free bowl, beat egg whites with the cream of tartar. When it starts to form soft peaks, gradually add in the granulated sugar. Add vanilla and continue to beat on medium to high until stiff peaks form.
  4. Fold the chopped cashew and cocoa into the merengue carefully, making sure not to deflate the airy mixture. Put the meringue in the prepared piping bag and pipe 1.5 to 2 inch diameter circles with ample spacing between circles. (If you don’t have a piping bag, just use a Ziplock bag instead and cut one corner to create the tip.)
  5. To create even circles, draw circles in the underside of your parchment paper and pipe within the lines.
  6. Bake merengue circles for 20 to 30 minutes or until set.
  7. Remove from heat and cool before assembly.

Buttercream

  1. In a saucepan, combine granulated sugar and water and bring to a boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Lower heat and let simmer until syrup reaches 240F (use a candy thermometer for this).
  2. In the bowl of your mixer, place the 6 room temperature egg yolks and beat at medium speed. Continue to beat until light yellow in color and is thick.
  3. When your sugar syrup has reached 240F, remove from the heat.
  4. Slowly add in the warm syrup to the beaten egg yolks in a slow and steady stream, making sure to continue beating on medium to avoid scrambling the yolks.
  5. When all the syrup has been added, continue whipping on medium to high until mixture has cooled enough. To check, feel the bottom of the bowl. If it is still warm, continue beating. Once the mixture has sufficiently cooled down, you can start to add the room temperature butter.
  6. Still at medium to high, continue running your mixer as you start adding the butter. Add the soft butter a teaspoon or 1 – 2 cubes at a time, making sure it is properly incorporated before adding more. Continue this until all the butter has been added.
  7. Remove the whisk/beater attachment from your stand mixer and replace with the paddle attachment. Add the cooled melted chocolate to the buttercream and continue to beat until chocolate has been incorporated.

Assembly

  1. Just like with the butter version, make sure that the flatter side of the merengue is on the outside to get a smooth top and bottom. Spread the chocolate buttercream on the inside side of the merengue and sandwich this with another chocolate merengue circle.
  2. Cover the top and sides of the chocolate merengue sandwich with more choco buttercream and place in the refrigerator to set for 20 minutes.
  3. Once set, cover the rest of the sandwich with more choco buttercream. Roll into the chocolate cake/oreo and ground cashew mixture until evenly coated.
  4. Refrigerate again to set and serve chilled. Place on cupcake papers for easier handling.