This is  the ultimate birthday cake with a difference. Coffee, almonds, egg whites and cream creates a cake that belongs in Fantasia! Crisp and creamy and sweet and light and downright heavenly, it’s  a touch on the expensive side but well worth making for really special occasions. Don’t think that the cake isn’t fattening because the it’s made only of egg-whites – it certainly isn’t. It’s really important to try to create equally sized  circles so that, once they are stacked, the cake isn’t lop sided. Make sure that the filling isn’t too runny – it has to help to hold the whole thing together!

Ingredients

Almond Meringue

• 9 egg whites
• 500 g superfine castor sugar
• 175 g finely ground almonds

Cocoa coffee filling

• 250 ml extra strong espresso coffee
• 400 g 75 g Lindt chocolate
• 6 eggs, separated
• 80 g  superfine castor sugar
• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• Lightly whipped full cream – for serving

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 120 C.
Draw 3 x 26cm circles on a sheet of baking paper and invert the paper over three baking trays.

• To make the almond meringue, whisk the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer until stiff peaks form and then start to add the sugar bit by bit, whisking all the time until the sugar as been used up.
• Fold in the ground almonds and put everything into a piping bag or use the Ziploc bag method.
• Starting in the middle pipe in a circle until the outside edges of each of the 3 circles have been reached.
• Bake for 40 minutes, watching constantly unless you know exactly how your oven will react. Switch off and then dry in the oven for about one hour.
• For the filling, put the coffee and the chocolate in a small pot over a low heat and stir until the chocolate has dissolved.
• Remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl.
• Allow to cool and then whisk in the egg yolks (remember that if the mixture is too warm, you will have an omelette).
• In a separate bowl (preferably of an electric mixer) whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, adding the sugar bit by bit until all the sugar has been used up.
• Fold half the beaten egg whites into the cooled chocolate mixture and then add the rest very carefully.
• Keep in refrigerator whilst assembling the cake.
• To assemble, place half the chocolate mixture over one meringue disc with the second disc on top.
• Spread with the rest of the filling and top with the third disc.
• Dust with cocoa powder, cut into wedges and serve with whipped cream.