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Strawberry Chocolate Chip Meringata

low difficulty recipe medium time servings 6 read the post

Meringa is a semi-freddo cake (half-frozen cake) and it is challenging dessert, it's not really difficult to make but it takes time... It is better if you can start the process the day before you want to serve the cake.
The good thing about meringata is that you can make it in advance and keep it in the freezer for up to 2 months, then move it in the refrigerator 2 hours before serving it.

Meringata - International Cooking Blog

Ingredients

Meringues

- 200g egg whites (about 4-5 eggs)

- 400g powdered sugar (the sugar weight is the double of the egg whites)

How to make the meringues click here

Filling

- 300ml heavy whipping cream

- 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar

- 200g strawberry

- 60g dark chocolate

- 150g pastry cream (look the recipe here)

Topping

- 200g strawberries

- 30g of dark chocolate (to write on top of the cake, if you like)

Side

- 150ml of heavy whipping cream

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Make the meringues mixture following the steps of the normal meringues but using 200g of egg whites and 400g of sugar. On a baking paper sheet design 2 circles: the first one using the border of the springform cake pan you will use it will be the bottom of your meringata; the second, smaller, you can make it with a bowl or a cup, it's going to be on top of your meringata. You can also make different shapes (an heart? Square? Flower?) for the top meringue... be creative!

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Fill the decoration bag with the egg whites mixture and, starting from the center of the smaller disk, cover the area of the disk moving the tip in circle.

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Create the bottom disk with the same process and make it even with a spatula. With the rest of the meringues mixture make some meringues with the shapes you like. You can use part of them to decorate the cake but consider that you will need to crumble some of them anyway.

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Cook the disks and meringues in the oven for at least 2 hours at 100°C (210F) checking them every 30 min after the fist hour.
Technically the meringues don't cook, they get dry in the oven. You can also set the temperature lower and leave them in the oven for more time. Don't set the temperature higher or they will start to become brownish outside and will ramain soft inside, so be careful.
To check them: take one meringue out of the oven, let it cool for few min and then cut it in half. The inside part should be hard as the outside. If you want to taste it, it has to melt in your mouth and not to form a sticky ball that will attach to your teeth.
Once they are ready, let the meringues cool at room temperature for an hour or so.

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While the meringues are cooking make the pastry cream. You can follow the recipe here, you will need only 150g of pastry cream, more or less half the the quantity you make with the recipe posted on the blog. You can use half the ingrediends or you can make it with 4 yolks (since you have them from the meringues) and use the pastry cream you saved to make a small fruit pie, or simply serve it in small cups with straberries on top. Let the pastry cream cool at room temperature and then keep it in the refrigerator for later.

Prepare the other ingrediens for the filling. Cut the strawberries in really small pieces.

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Chop the dark chocolate chips and mix them. Save them in the refrigerator for later.

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Only when the meringues are cool, crumble 50-60g of meringues. Misure 300ml of heavy whipping cream and whip it, adding 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar at the end. For more details on how to make the whipped cream check out the recipe here.

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Add the pastry cream (it has to be cold!) in the bowl and fold gently to preserve the fluffiness that the cream acquired while whipping it. Add the meringues.

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Add the strawberries and the chopped chocolate chips, fold gently. Place the big meringue disk at the bottom of the cake pan (if it doesn't fit properly, use a knife to cut the border of the disk to make it smaller, be careful and gentle, you don't want to break it). Fix some strips of baking paper to the border of the pan, as shown in the picture, so that the filling won't attach to the cake pan.

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Spread the filling evenly in the cake pan. Then take the small meringue disk and place it on top of the meringata.

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Now you can be creative and decorate the top of your meringata as you like. I wanted to write "Happy Bday Dani" so i made the meringue disk, then I used strawberry tips and chopped strawberries to fill the top. But if there is no special occasion to eat the meringata you can decorate the top with just strawberries and meringues, for example.

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Melt some dark chocolate and write on top of the small disk using a zip bag or a decorating bag . Wrap the meringata with aluminum foil and leave it in the freezer for at least 3 hours. I actually left it in the freezer over night and I followed the rest of the recipe the next day, before bringing it to the Bday lady.

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Once the meringata is well forzen, and it is time to make the side of the cake, whip 150ml of heavy whipping cream. For more details on how to make whipped cream check out the recipe here. Make sure to have it ready before to taking out the meringata from the freezer: you want to leave the meringata out of the refrigerator for as less time as possible.
When the whipped cream is ready, take out your meringata and unfold its side.

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Remove the baking paper sheets and gently place the meringata on your serving plate. With a spatula spread the whipped cream on the side of your meringata and between the strawberries on top, as shown in the picure.

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If you made some meringues for the side use them. Crumble some meringues and press the small pieces on the side of the cake.

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Wrap the meringata with alluminum foil and leave it in the freezer for a couple of hours. Before serving it, leave the meringata in the refrigerator for an hour to get a bit soft. Serve cold. If you have any leftover, keep it in the freezer.

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