CHOCOLATE MERINGUE CAKE

Last week in Wednesday "country " cooking class we discussed the many ways we learnt to prepare pavlovas in the family kitchen . Well today I prepared what is called chocolate meringue cake ( the meringue preparation is unlike anything my cooking mentor Jessie Mersey taught me in her Fraser Crescent kitchen). Preheat your oven to 120 deg C . Mix together 155gm of ground almond or hazelnuts with 2 tbs of cornflour and 3/4 cup ( 185 gm of castor sugar ) . In a separate clean dry bowl beat 6 egg whites until soft peaks form now slowly beat in 130 gm of castor sugar ( 2/3 rd cup ), until thick and glossy . Fold in the ground nut mixture . Now it is time to draw 3 x 20cm /( 8 " ) squares on baking paper . Divide the meringue mixture evenly between the 3 ssquares . Place the baking paper squares on oven trays and bake in your preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the meringues are crisp and dry . Remove from the oven and cool . For the filling beat 220 gm of butter / marg until soft add 185gm of melted dark chocolate, 3 tbs of castor sugar , 500ml ( 2 cups ) of cream and beat with electric beateras until thicke , fold in 2 tbs of brandy / apera along with 125 gm of ground almonds / hazelnuts . All you have to do is to assemble the cake , place a layer of meringue on the serving plate and spread with 1/2 the filling , top with another meringue layer and the remaining filling. You can place the final meringue layer on top or slice the meringue into pieces and place randomly over top . I topped the chocolate meringue cake with sliced fresh strawberries , a drizzle of 200gm of melted dark chocolate . Optional ...serve with cream .