This chocolate meringue crown makes a spectacular dessert for a special occasion. Consisting of three layers of crunchy meringue, flavoured with chocolate and filled with cream and fresh berries, it is not hard to make but the end result is beautiful.
The combination of meringue, fruit and cream is a match made in heaven which is why I like desserts such as Pavlova, or my pineapple and coconut meringue roulade and raspberry and lemon meringue roll so much.
I originally came up with this meringue crown recipe during the great bloggers bake off back in 2016. The brief for the final of the Great British Bake Off being make a meringue crown.
Since then I have made it many times as I think this meringue dessert is taken to the next level with the addition of chocolate.
Ingredients
Scroll down for quantities and full printable recipe at the bottom of this post.
- Egg whites - Large
- Caster sugar
- Cornflour (US=cornstarch)
- Plain chocolate
- Double cream (Us=Heavy cream)
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
Chocolate for flavour and stability
The addition of chocolate flavours the meringue, which can be fragile. However, the addition of a layer of chocolate to the base of each meringue circle makes it stronger and helps the assembled crown to stay crisp for longer.
As an added bonus, if your meringue breaks a little you can effectively stick it back together with the chocolate.
I also think the strong flavour of a dark chocolate perfectly counteracts the sweetness of the meringue. Sticking with the royal theme I have gone for a red, white and blue filling by using cream with raspberries and blueberries.
Variations
- You could, of course, use any combination of berries.
- Alternatively, you could try something completely different. A selection of tropical fruits such as pineapple, mango, passion fruit and papaya would taste and look amazing too.
- Replace the grated chocolate in the meringue withfinely ground hazelnuts
Cook's Tips
Use a cake tin or a 20cm (8in) dinner plate as a guide to draw the circles on the parchment.
A little blob of meringue in each corner can be used to stick the parchment to the baking sheet, to hold it still and make piping easier.
If you do not have three shelves in your oven. Up-turn a grill rack and place it on the bottom of the oven so that the baking sheet is not directly sitting on the base of the oven.
Can the Crown be made in advance?
The meringue discs will keep for about a week if stored in an airtight container. The crown is best eaten the day it is assembled.
Step by step chocolate meringue crown
Step 1
Mark out a circle on 3 sheets of baking parchment. Turn over and place on a baking sheet. I used a cake tin as a guide.
Step 2
Whisk the egg whites until standing in stiff peaks and then gradually whisk in the sugar to form a glossy meringue.
Step 3
Fold the grated chocolate into the meringue and spoon into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
Step 4
Pipe a ring of meringue rosettes using the circle as a guide.
Step 5
Fill in the centre of the ring with meringue. Repeat 3 times.
Step 6
On one meringue pipe an additional ring of rosettes around the edge.
Step 7
Once baked and cooled spread the base of each meringue with chocolate.
Step 8
Spread the first meringue circle with cream and top with raspberries. Place on a serving plate.
Step 9
Place a second meringue on top and spread with cream and a layer of blueberries.
Step 10
Place the third meringue on top. Pipe cream on top and pile the remaining fruit in the centre.
Chocolate Meringue Crown
Ingredients
- 6 egg whites
- 350 g caster sugar (12oz)
- 2 teaspoon cornflour
- 50 g plain chocolate (2oz),finely grated
To complete
- 250 g plain chocolate (9oz) broken into pieces
- 600 ml double cream (1pt)
- 225 g raspberries (8oz)
- 225 g blueberries (8oz)
Instructions
- Draw a 20cm (8in) circle on each of 3 sheets of baking parchment, turn over and place on 3 baking sheets.Preheat the oven to 140℃ (120℃ fan)/275°F /gas mark 1.
- Whisk 6 egg whites until standing in soft peaks, then gradually whisk in half of the 350g (12oz) caster sugar adding a tablespoon at a time. Continue whisking until he mixture is very stiff and glossy.
- Carefully fold in the remaining caster sugar with a metal spoon or spatula, followed by 2 teaspoon cornflour and 5og (2oz) grated chocolate .
- Spoon the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe rosettes in a circle using the drawn circle as a guide and fill in the centre of the circle with more meringue.
- Repeat until you have 3 discs of meringue. Then Pipe a second ring of rosette on top of one the circles to form a raised edge.
- Bake for 1 ½ hours, changing the position of the top and bottom meringues around half way through.
- Turn off the oven and leave very slightly ajar. Allow the meringues to cool in the oven.
- When the meringues are completely cold, melt 250g (9oz) chocolate pieces in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Carefully remove the meringues from the parchment and spread melted chocolate over the bottom of each meringue. Leave upside down until the chocolate has set. Alternatively you can place them chocolate side down on clean parchment.
- Whip 600ml (1pt) cream until standing in soft peaks. Spoon about ⅓ into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle, set aside. Place the first meringue circle on a serving plate and spread half of the remaining cream over the meringue. Sprinkle about two-thirds of the 225g (8oz) raspberries over the cream.
- Place the second meringue on top and gently push down slightly. Spread with a layer of cream and sprinkle about two-thirds of the225g (8oz) blueberries.
- Finally place the third meringue with the raised edge on top and gently push down. Pipe the cream in a swirly pattern on top and pile the remaining fruit into the centre. Chill until required.
Claire Thomas says
What a show stopper - it is a thing of beauty this cake!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Thank you Claire