Chocolate Ripple Meringues with Glazed Strawberries

Got kids off to school.

Ate meringue and drank coffee for breakfast.

Tried to the mimic Drakes Hotline Bling dance moves whilst clearing the breakfast dishes.

Smashed my morning run.

Had coffee with friends.

Made two trips to the store. (Didn't get half of what I needed on the first trip).

Lunched on hummus and avocado on toasted sourdough. Apple for "lussert"

Set up and shot some photos of CAKE.

Closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and tackled my laundry. (Does it ever end?)

Made Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs for dinner.

Made a Mocha Hazelnut Marble Cake with Mocha Mascarpone Ganache. (Recipe coming soon.)

Collapsed in a heap on the sofa.

That's my day in a nutshell.

Chocolate Ripple Meringues with Glazed Strawberries

slightly adapted from here

Makes 6

For the Meringues:

1/2 lemon, for cleaning the bowl you'll whip your egg whites in

4 egg whites

1 cup caster sugar

2 teaspoons cornflour

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

For the Glazed Strawberries:

1/3 cup strawberry jam

1/4 cup water

250g fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

Vanilla Cream:

300ml thickened cream

2 tablespoons icing sugar,sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the Meringues:

Take the cut side of the lemon and rub the inside of the bowl to your electric mixer. This cleans the bowl of any residual grease. Discard the lemon.

Place the egg whites into the bowl and usinf the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until firm peaks form. While the mixer is still running, add the sugar one tablespoonful at a time. Once all the sugar is incorporated, mix at high speed for 10 minutes. The meringue should be thick and glossy.

Keep the mixer going and add the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined. Remove the bowl, sift the cocoa powder over the mixture and, using a large metal spoon, gently fold the cocoa powder into the meringue until you have ripple of chocolate through the white meringue. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 140C.  Dollop a teaspoon of meringue mixture onto the corners of a large baking sheet and stick a large piece of baking paper onto it (this will stop the paper from moving around when you spoon the meringues on). Spoon the meringue mixture into six large rounds, making a small indent in the middle of each with the back of the spoon.

Put the tray into the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 120C. Bake for 1 1/4 hours.   Turn the oven off and allow the meringues to cool in the oven for a few hours. 

Make the Glaze:

place the jam and water into a small saucepan over low heat and stir until the jam is warm and syrupy.  Remove from the heat and stir through half the strawberries, retaining some for topping the meringues.  Set aside.  

Make the Vanilla Cream:

Put all the ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whip until soft peaks form.  Set aside.

To Serve:

Fill the indent on the top of each meringue with the vanilla cream.  Spoon the glazed strawberries on top, letting the syrup run over the vanilla cream and down the sides of the meringue.  Top with extra slices of fresh strawberries.