for 4 person

Japonaise

2	fresh egg whites
1 pinch	salt
100 g	sugar
100 g	ground almonds

Chocolate

100 g	dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 tbsp	cream

Chocolate mousse

2 dl	full cream
1 tbsp	icing sugar

To serve

1 tbsp

Cocoa Nibs

How it's done

Japonaise

Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff. Add half the sugar and continue beating until the egg whites turn glossy. Add the remainder of the sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become very stiff and glossy. Carefully fold the almonds into the egg whites using a spatula. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a smooth nozzle (approx. 1 cm in diameter), pipe 8 meringues (approx. 6 cm in diameter) in a spiral motion onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Using the piping bag, dot the remainder of the mixture onto the baking paper between the meringues.

To bake/dry

Slide the tray into the lower half of an oven preheated to 120 °C, reduce the heat to 100 °C and leave to dry out for approx. 1½ hrs. Then switch the oven off and leave the japonaise meringues to cool in the oven with the door slightly ajar.

Chocolate

Place the chocolate and cream in a thin-sided bowl and suspend over a gently simmering bain-marie, ensuring that the bowl does not touch the water. Melt the chocolate, stir until smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat, leave to cool for approx. 5 mins.

Chocolate mousse

Beat the cream with the icing sugar until just stiff. Whisk half of the mixture into the chocolate. Carefully fold in the remainder of the cream using a spatula, cover and chill for approx. 1 hr.

To serve

Transfer the mousse to a piping bag with a smooth nozzle (approx. 1 cm in diameter). Spread half of the cream over 4 of the japonaise meringues. Top with the remainder of the japonaise meringues, decorate with the remainder of the mousse. Top with the cocoa nibs and japonaise dots, serve immediately.

Show complete recipe