Strawberry hazelnut gateau

My mum has been making this cake for me for years. I've had it on many occasions - on birthdays, christmases and just because!

A few years ago I started cooking it myself. Mum traditionally uses 'pavlova magic' instead of egg whites. However, I prefer to use fresh ingredients where ever I can so I adapted this recipe to use egg whites instead.

Because strawberries are not always in season or are, at times, ridiculously over priced, I've also made this cake substituting strawberries for tinned black or sour cherries. Frozen raspberries would probably also work quite well. Something I think would be nice, but have yet to try, is to substitute the hazelnut meal with a mixture of macadamia and almond meal and to use tinned sliced mango instead of strawberries.

This cake always makes me think of home :).

Strawberry hazelnut gateau (Recipe adapted from my mum's recipe)

Serves 12

Ingredients

4 egg whites
275 gr caster sugar
1 cup (100g) hazelnut meal
1 tsp white vinegar
½ tsp vanilla extract
185 gr dark chocolate, melted
20 gr butter, melted
600 ml thickened cream, whipped
250 gr strawberries, sliced with a few reserved for garnishing

Step 1: Heating the oven and preparing the tins

Preheat oven 180 C (160C if you are using a fan forced oven). Grease 2 x 20 cm springform tins. Line the base and sides of the tins with baking paper. Grease the paper, sprinkle with cornflour and shake away the excess flour.

Step 2: Prepare the meringue

Beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add the caster sugar, beating after each addition until the sugar is dissolved. Fold in hazelnut meal, vinegar and vanilla extract.
Divide the meringue evenly between the two tins and bake for about 35 minutes or until the meringue is crisp. Release sides of tins and cool meringues on base of tins.

Step 3: Preparing the chocolate ganache

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir the chocolate with a metal spoon until it begins to melt. Add the butter to the bowl and continue to stir until all the ingredients are melted and combined. Remove from the bowl from the heat and set aside.

Step 4: Assembling the cake

Remove meringue layers from the bases of the spring form pans and peel off the baking paper. Place one of the meringue layers on plate, flat-side down. Spread it with half of the chocolate mixture and top with 1/2 of the cream and strawberries.

Spread flat side of second meringue layer with remaining chocolate mixture. Place the second meringue disk on top of strawberry layer, chocolate side down. Cover top and sides of cake with the remaining cream.

Step 5: Dress the cake

Decorate the top of the cake and refrigerate for 3 hours.