Cinnamon Meringue And Chocolate Cake
This cake was created by Pierre Hermé, a renowned french pastry chef. He named it Megève, which is a ski resort village in the French Alps. It’s a gluten free cake made of meringue and chocolate mousse layers, covered with a chocolate glaze.
The taste
The only thing I added in the recipe is a bit of cinnamon powder in the meringue because it works well with chocolate. The taste is pretty faint because I personally don’t enjoy too much of it but you can definitely double the proportion if you are a cinnamon lover!
I like that there is a great balance between the sweetness of the meringue and the bitterness of the dark chocolate. I used a 58% dark chocolate, if using a stronger one, double the quantity of sugar in the chocolate mousse.
The look
I decided not to use any ring to assemble the cake because I wanted people that don’t have a lot of baking tools to be able to make it. The meringues are not going to be the exact same diameter, which is fine. When building the cake, place the smallest one in the middle.
If you want a flawless look, use a ring. When doing so, don’t forget that the diameter of the meringues need to be a bit smaller than your ring.
You can also do other shapes, square, rectangle, heart… Or even make a bunch of individual cakes.
The texture
The meringue is light and crunchy and the chocolate mousse is more on the dense side. I recommend taking the cake out of the fridge 15 to 30 minutes prior to eating so that the mousse is less firm.
Making the cake
The Megève is not a complicated cake to make but requires a bit of organization.
The meringues have to be done the day before so that they can dry properly and keep a crunchy texture.
Use a ring or a plate to draw three circles on the back side of your parchment paper. You can use a large round or star tip to pipe the meringue.
If you are looking for more advice to make meringues, I have a post on how to make the perfect French meringues.
The chocolate sauce can also be made the day before to spread the work evenly.
Before making the chocolate mousse, make sure that you have everything ready to assemble the cake, it stiffen pretty fast (don’t worry, you still have the time to build the cake).
Prepare an offset spatula and a tray (that fits in your freezer) with parchment paper to put the cake on ; and decide which meringue is going to be at the bottom, middle and top of the cake.
Freeze the cake for a couple of hours before making the chocolate glaze.
When the glaze is ready, put the cake on a cooling rack with cling wrap or a baking sheet underneath. Pour the glaze on top and on the edges of the cake and use an offset spatula to remove the excess glaze on top.
Sprinkle the cake with crushed meringues, use the leftover chocolate glaze to pipe on top or on the edges, place a few meringues here and there…
Once done, put the cake on a serving dish and refrigerate for a couple of hours to defrost (ideally in a container, to prevent from drying and to protect the meringue from the humidity). Keep for a couple of days in the fridge.
Cinnamon Meringue And Chocolate Cake
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Large round or star tip
Ingredients
Cinnamon meringues
- 4 egg whites (120 g)
- ¾ cup + 2 tbsp sugar (200 g)
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon (1.25 g)
Chocolate sauce
- ½ heaping cup dark chocolate (100 g)
- ¾ cup + 1 tbsp water (190 ml)
- ⅓ cup 18% sour cream (95 g)
- 4 tbsp sugar (50 g)
Chocolate mousse
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp dark chocolate (210 g)
- ⅞ cup butter – room temperature (192 g)
- 2 big egg yolks (46 g)
- 2 ½ tbsp chocolate sauce (40 g)
- ½ tbsp sugar (7 g)
- 4 big egg whites (140 g)
Chocolate glaze
- ½ cup whipping cream (120 ml)
- ⅔ cup dark chocolate – chips or grated (160 g)
- 2 tbsp butter – room temperature (30 g)
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp chocolate sauce (170 g)
Instructions
Cinnamon meringues – make the day before
- Preheat the oven to 180°F – 85°C.
- In a stand-up mixer, beat the egg whites with the whisk on high speed until it gets foamy. Add about one third of the sugar and keep mixing on high speed for one more minute. Add the second third of the sugar. Mix for about 5 more minutes, add the rest of the sugar with the cinnamon powder and mix for about 30 seconds, to stiffen the meringue.
- Pipe three Ø6 inch – 16 cm rounds of meringue on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.If you have some meringue left, pipe dots that you'll use to decorate the cake.
- Bake for 3 hours. Turn off the oven and let dry completely until the next day.
Chocolate sauce
- Put all the ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil on medium heat, while stirring constantly.
- Cook on low heat for 15 minutes until it thicken a bit.
- Allow to cool down.
Chocolate mousse
- Melt the chocolate.
- In a bowl, mix together the egg yolks and the chocolate sauce.In your stand mixer, whip the egg whites with the sugar to medium peaks.
- Whisk the butter to make it foamy and mix in the melted chocolate. Add the egg yolk/chocolate sauce mixture.Lastly, fold in the beaten egg whites.
- Place a meringue on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and cover with chocolate mousse. Put the middle meringue on top, push it gently into the chocolate mousse. Spread some more chocolate mousse on top of the middle meringue and place the top meringue upside down, so that the flat side is on top of the cakeSpread the remaining chocolate mousse on top and edges of the cake and put in the freezer for a couple of hours.
Chocolate glaze
- Bring the cream to a boil and pour on the chocolate. Wait for a couple of minutes.
- Mix and add the butter (first, so that it melts) and the chocolate sauce.
- Put the cake on a cooling rack over a baking tray or cling wrap. Pour the glaze on top and on the edges of the cake. Use and offset spatula to remove the excess glaze on top.
- Crush some meringues between your fingers and stick them to the edges. Use the leftover glaze to pipe on top of the cake and place a few meringues here and there.
- Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours before eating.
Notes
The cinnamon taste is pretty faint, double the proportion if you are a cinnamon lover!
I used a 58% dark chocolate, if using a stronger, double the quantity of sugar in the chocolate mousse.
The meringues are not going to be the exact same diameter. When assembling, place the smallest one in the middle.
I recommend taking the cake out of the fridge 15 to 30 minutes prior to eating so that the mousse is softer.
Use a ring or a plate to draw three circles on the back side of your parchment paper.
The chocolate sauce can also be made the day before to spread the work evenly.
Before making the chocolate mousse, make sure that you have everything ready to assemble the cake, it stiffen pretty fast (don’t worry, you still have the time to build the cake). Prepare an offset spatula and a tray (that fits in your freezer) with parchment paper to put the cake on ; and decide which meringue is going to be at the bottom, middle and top of the cake.