This was one I did for a birthday celebration, after finding it in the Delicious magazine, so used a heart shaped ceramic flan dish as part of the theme, which I picked up at a charity shop for a couple of pounds. It’s always a great place to look for tins as people often buy them and then don’t use them very often before donating them. Rich and delicious, this is a stunning dessert full of real chocolate flavour, and you could always make a chocolate pastry as in the original recipe if you wanted more chocolate decadence! For me, never a great pastry maker, I generally always buy in ready made, but do make your own if you prefer.
MAKES 14 SLICES (APPROX.)// TIME: 1 HOUR + 30 MINUTES // MEDIUM
Chocolate Meringue Pie Ingredients:
Base:
- 500g Ready made shortcrust pastry
Chocolate Filling:
- 200g Classic Dark Chocolate
- 150g Butter (salted or unsalted)
- 60g Golden Caster Sugar
- 2 Large Eggs, plus 3 Large Egg Yolks (I always use free range)
- 80g Plain Flour
Meringue Topping:
- 5 Large Eggs
- 275g Caster Sugar
- 1tsp Cornflour
- 1tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½tsp White Wine Vinegar
- 20g Cocoa Powder
Chocolate Meringue Pie Method:
- Heat the oven to 200/180 fan.
- A quick tip for pastry rolling is to use two pieces of baking greaseproof paper, and roll the pastry in between them; it saves the messiness of a floured surface. Roll to about a 5mm thickness, and peel off the paper, and line the tin, leaving an overhang on the sides. At this point I popped it into the fridge to cool, so the pastry settled, and then, once cooled, I trimmed off the excess off the sides with a knife. Line it with the baking paper you’ve used to roll it out between and fill with baking beans or uncooked rice. Chill again for a further 10 minutes or so. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, remove the cooking beans/rice and the paper, and cook for a further couple of minutes, until lightly golden.
- Lower the temperature of the oven to 180/160 fan.
- In a further bowl (lots of washing up to do here!), whisk the egg whites until they are stiff, add the sugar bit by bit, until you have a stiff, glossy meringue, then add the cornflour, vanilla and vinegar and whisk again. Sift the cocoa powder over the top of the meringue, and stir lightly in with a metal spoon, to create a marbled effect, and spoon over the top of the cooked truffle pastry. Finish with a further, light sifting of cocoa powder and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until a light crust on top. Leave to cool, then portion up to serve.
- Portion wise, we made this 14 slices, as it is rather decadent, but do slice according to your needs.