Chocolate Brownie and Meringue Cake

May and June were BUSY this year.  I took on a lot of extra days of work so it was almost like working full time again.  Good thing really since, come August, that is exactly what I am doing!  That job interview I mentioned way back in March/April? The one I thought I did terrible on and came out of crying?  Turns out I actually did great and am now a permanently contracted, full time teacher with Fife Council.  Once again, there were issues with paperwork and references and the like but everything should be sorted now and I will have a class again.  I am so excited!  Planning has therefore been taking up a lot of my free time.  I am making up a whole bunch of maths resources for myself at the moment.  Hence a lack of blog activity. 

There hasn't been a lack of baking mind you.  I have baked quite a few things in the last couple of months but have generally not been 100% happy with them.  So obviously they weren't going up on here.  The people I made them for loved them.  They always do.  But I am a perfectionist.  There's one cake I was very proud of that you guys never got to see because I hate the photos I took.  They were just awful.

But now it's the holidays and I have a lot of free time on my hands, I can get back to some regular baking for a bit.  

My main audience still remains the Hubby's RPG group in Dundee.  They are supposed to be giving me requests or ideas but they're not that great at it.  I get a lot of the same, safe things suggested and that's no fun.  Chocolate is a popular one so I keep looking for ways to make chocolate cake a bit different.  This time around I decided to include meringue.  I liked the recipe I found that cooked it as part of the layers.  It looked very effective.  I did change out the filling though.  One of the party doesn't like cream or fruit and the original had raspberries and cream in it.  I asked the Hubby if he would prefer chocolate buttercream or marshmallow fluff.  He went with the latter.

It was a good call.  I've never made chocolate marshmallow fluff before so just had a bit of a guess and added cocoa powder at the stage I would usually include vanilla extract.  It worked REALLY well.  I am not a big fan of adding cocoa powder to things.  I find it too bitter.  Marshmallow fluff is so sweet though that it balances it out beautifully.  It was so yummy I was licking the remains out the bowl.

It ended up being a very pretty cake so I was happy about that.  I was worried the brownie would be dry but it wasn't.  The meringue was perfect and didn't taste of eggs like the last time I made it.  And, as I said, the marshmallow fluff was fantastic!  Very much enjoyed by all.

Recipe - adapted from Miranda Gore Brown via BBC Food

Makes 1 x 9inch cake

Brownie:

• 200g/7oz dark chocolate
• 200g/7oz butter
• 250g/8.75oz icing sugar
• 3 eggs
• 115g/4oz plain flour 

Meringue:

• 4 egg whites
• 200g/7oz caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar  

Marshmallow Filling - adapted from Bake Me I'm Yours... Sweet Bitesize Bakes : 

• 1 large egg white
• 125g/4.5oz caster sugar
• 25g/0.75oz golden syrup
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tbsp water
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 100g/3.5oz dark chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gask Mark 5 and grease and line two 23cm/9inch round cake pans.
2. Start with the brownie base.  Melt 180g/6.25oz of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of gently simmering water.  Chop up the remaining 20g/0.75oz and set aside.
3. Beat the butter and icing sugar together in a large bowl until pale and creamy.
4. Whisk in the eggs one at a time until well combined.
5. Add the flour a little at a time and beat in until the mixture is smooth.
6. Fold the melted chocolate into the mixture until it is evenly combined and then fold in the chopped chocolate.
7. Split the mixture between the prepared cake tins and bake for 10-12 minutes.  The top of the brownie will have just started to solidify.  Set tins aside and allow to cool slightly.  Reduce the oven temperature to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3.
8. Make the meringue by whisking the cream of tartar together with the egg whites until soft peaks form.
9. Slowly whisk in the sugar until the meringue is smooth and glossy.
10. Divide the meringue in half and spoon it over the brownie bases.
11. Bake for a further 30 minutes, or until the meringue is just starting to turn golden brown.
12. Set aside to cool completely in the tins.
13. To make the filling, put a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
14. Place everything except the cocoa powder in the bowl.
15. Whilst it is heating, stir with an electric whisk for several minutes (about 10) until you get shiny soft peaks.
16. Remove from the heat and whisk for another two minutes to thicken it up.  
17. Sift in the cocoa powder and whisk in too.
18. Allow to cool.
19. Chop 50g/1.5oz of the dark chocolate into small pieces and fold into the cooled marshmallow fluff.
20. Carefully remove one of the cake layers from its tin and place it meringue-side-down on a plate.
21. Cover with the marshmallow filling, leaving a slight gap around the edge.
22. Remove the other layer and place it meringue-side-up on top of the filling.
23. Melt the remaining dark chocolate and drizzle over the top of the cake.  Allow to set.