Merveilleux

I do love to make (and eat, of course) desserts.

Merveilleux, a French confection. Two sweet meringue cookies with a layer of chocolate mousse, then covered with vanilla flavored whipped cream and shavings of chocolate.

Start by forming a french meringue.  I used two egg whites, a quarter teaspoon of citric acid, and about 200 grams of sugar.  In the mixer, I whipped the eggs and acid to a froth, then added the sugar all at once.    I then let the mixer go on high speed until stiff peaks.  Once the meringue reaches the right consistency, I put it into a piping back with a 1 cm plain tip.  

The whipped cream is made in similar fashion, but no acid.  I put a cup of heavy cream with a half teaspoon of vanilla extract and maybe a third of a cup of sugar.  I let this whip until stiff peaks as well.

The chocolate mousse I made by melting chocolate in a steel bowl over a saucepan with simmering water.  I added some cream and whipped like mad over an ice bath.  

Now that the components are made, time to bake.  The meringues were piped into 4 cm disks on parchment paper and baked at 195 F (90 C) for 1 hour, then 185 F (85 C) for another hour. I cut one open to make sure the centers were baked through.  If not (mine were not since I made them a little thick), bake for 10-20 minutes more.  Let cool completely

To finish, I spread chocolate mousse on one disk and placed another disk on top.  I covered the meringue sandwich with whipped cream using an offset spatula.  Finally, roll in chocolate shavings.