Chocolate devastation (part 2)

12 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
- directions continued

Directions

MOCHA MERINGUE: Using a 9" cake circle (or cake plate) as a guide, trace a circle on each of 3 sheets of parchment paper (cut to fit the baking sheets) with a pencil. Turn each sheet of parchment paper over and place with the trace mark down on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 250~. Combine together in a sifter the confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and cocoa. Sift onto the wax paper and set aside until needed. Heat 1" of water in the bottom half of a double boiler over medium-high heat. Place 8 egg whites, ¾ cup sugar, the espresso powder, the cream of tartar, and the salt in the top half of the double boiler. Heat the egg white mixture to a temperature of 120~ while gently and constantly whisking, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a balloon whip.

Whisk on high until stiff but not dry, about 2 to 2½ minutes.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to fold in the sifted dry ingredients. Fill a pastry bag (with no tip) with about a third of the meringue. Fill a traced circle with meringue: start in the center and pipe a ½" wide spiral toward the ouside of the circle. Fill the pastry bag again and repeat this procedure with each of the 2 remaining circles (each circle should be filled with about a third of the original amount of meringue.) Place the meringues in the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour. Reduce the oven temperature to 225~ and bake for an additional 2 hours. Cool on baking sheets for 30 minutes before handling.

THE GANACHE: Heat 2 cups heavy cream, the butter, and 2 tablespoons sugar in a 2 ½-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. When hot, stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil. Place 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate and 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate in a stainless bowl. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Reserve 1 cup of ganache and set aside at room temperature. Pour the remaining amount of ganache onto a baking sheet with sides and refrigerate for 35-40 minutes. Pour ¼ cup of the reserved room-temperature ganache onto the center of a baked meringue (supported by a cake circle). Remove an ice-cream disk from the freezer. Unwrap the disk and place it onto the puddle of ganache. Press down on the ice cream disk gently but firmly (this will spread the ganache). Fill a pastry bag fitted with a medium-sized star tip with one-third of the chilled ganache. Pipe about 28-30 individual vertical strips 1 ½" long and ¾" wide--all the way around the side of the ice cream disk (each strip should be touching the other, and each strip should also be wider at the base where it touches the meringue and tapered at the crest where it rises to the top edge of the ice cream disk). Place this section into the freezer and repeat the preceding procedure with another meringue and ice cream disk. Place in the freezer after completion for about 10-15 minutes. Remove a meringue and ice cream section from the freezer.

Pour ¼ cup of room-temperature ganache onto the center of the ice cream. Remove the second section from the freezer, and center onto the first. Press down on the ice cream, gently but firmly, to spread the ganache. Pour the remaining ¼ cup of room-temperature genache onto the top ice cream disk, and onto this ganache place the remaining baked meringue, once again pressing down gently but firmly to spread the ganache. Place the Devastation in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a medium-sized star tip with the remaining chilled ganache. Remove the Devastation from the freezer. Starting ½" inside the edge of the top meringue, pipe a ring of about 28-30 individual strips--1 ½" long and ¾" wide--all the way around the top (each strip should be touching the other, and each strip should also be wider at the point closest to the edge and tapered at the point closest to the center). Return the completed Devastation to the freezer for at least 1 hour before serving. To serve, cut the Devastation with a serrated slicer. Heat the blade of the slicer under hot running water before making each slice. Allow the slices to come

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