Hazelnut Meringue Cake

HAZELNUT MERINGUE CAKE

My hazelnut meringue cake was inspired by the traditional Hungarian Esterhazy torte that’s made from several layers of almond meringue frosted with buttercream and flavored with cherry brandy (kirsch).  The top is decorated with fondant in a web-like design. When I first saw it on the blog of a Russian pastry chef Maria Selyanina, I was fascinated by the idea of making something so beautiful without using any flour. I decided to try it with my favorite hazelnut flour instead of almond. The first time I made it, I was blown away – by the looks, the taste, and how nicely it stayed together for slicing. I immediately realized that I don’t care for the fondant top, and even though I made it a couple of times, I just picked all of it off. I thought it made the cake unbearably sweet since the layers are already 1/3 sugar. I started making it without the glaze, and just covering the top and the sides with shaved almonds or coconut, or chocolate flakes…

HOW TO MAKE HAZELNUT MERINGUE CAKE

Ingredients
For layers (dacquoise):
250g egg whites (about 6 large)
250g (1 1/4 cup) sugar
250g (2.5 cup) hazelnut flour

For the cream:
350mL (1.5 cup) milk, divided
6 egg yolks
35g arrowroot powder
70g (1/3 cup) sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
115g butter (1 stick), at room temperature, cut into small chunks (you can use up to 2 sticks of butter with this amount of custard, if you prefer more buttercream-like consistency)
50g (1/2 cup) hazelnut flour, toasted (I toast it in a skillet on stove top until fragrant, a few minutes) – optional, but will make firmer cream
30ml Kirsch liqueur or good cognac (optional)

For decorating
1/2 cups toasted almond slices, or toasted coconut chips, or shaved chocolate, or toasted hazelnut flour

Instructions
Make layers
Cut three pieces of parchment paper to fit a standard cookie sheet (you don’t have to have three cookie sheets, one is fine, you can slide each piece of paper on after the previous batch is done cooking). Draw two 8-inch (20cm) circles (I use a round cake form to trace). Flip the paper over.

In a stand mixer, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. With the mixer running, add sugar, mix until stiff peaks.

Gently fold in hazelnut flour with a soft spatula. The batter will be stiff at first; continue mixing it until it softens a bit but is still viscous.

Place batter into a pastry bag (I use this kind). Pipe onto the parchment paper circles, starting in the middle. Go right to the edges, the piped batter is not going to change in volume, so what you pipe is what you get.

Bake at 325ºF (160ºC) for 25 minutes (until edges brown slightly). Cool the layers completely (they cool very fast), flip upside down, peel off paper, and set aside.

Make cream:
Combine 100ml (1/2 cup) milk with egg yolks, add arrowroot powder, and whisk by hand until smooth.
In a medium sauce pan, mix the rest of the milk with sugar and vanilla, bring to slow simmer, whisking frequently. Remove from heat.
Pour hot milk/sugar into milk/egg yolk in very slow stream whisking constantly.
Transfer back to the sauce pan, and cook on very low, stirring constantly, until it thickens, about five minutes. Remove from heat right away.
Transfer to a bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, and mix until it cools down to room temp or just slightly warm.

Add butter gradually, and toasted hazelnut flour. Beat until smooth. Add kirsch, if using.

Assembly
Reserve 3 tablespoons of cream for the sides.
Divide the rest of the cream evenly between the layers. Use the smooth side of the layer for the top.
After the layers are frosted, spread cream on the sides.

Now you can slide the cake onto your serving plate, and sprinkle it with the toppings you like. Cover it to prevent cream from drying out (unless you have it completely coated with no visible cream remaining). Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

[asg-content-box boxcolor=”red” boxtitle=”” boldtitle=”false” boxexpand=”false” showcontent=”false”]NOTE[/asg-content-box]
If you decide to make traditionally decorated version of the cake, bring to boil 2 tablespoons of apricot jelly with 1 teaspoon Kirsch, strain, baste the top of the cake, set in in the fridge for 15 minutes (this prevents icing from saturating the layer). You would need  to make 300g of poured fondant, like this. Then separate 3 tablespoons of fondant, warm it up, mix it with 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder, and put it in a pastry bag with a small opening. Spread the white fondant over the entire top of the cake, then with the cocoa fondant make 5-6 circles, and using a toothpick make 10 or 12 lines starting from the middle towards the outer edges. That will create that characteristic spider web design: