Wagtail Cake
Latvia Wagtail Cake has a delicate hazelnut meringue, a rich cream filling and dark chocolate glaze. Perfect with your afternoon coffee or tea.
For the 3 meringue biscuits
- 400 grams sugar
- 6 egg whites
- 2 tbsp potato flour
- 250 grams hazelnuts
- pinch of salt
- Parchment paper, butter for greasing, two baking trays
For the cream filling
- 6 egg yolks
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 40 grams water
- 300 grams soft unsalted butter
- 3-4 tbsp cocoa
- 150 grams condensed milk
- 25 grams liqueur such as rum, cognac or brandy
For the glaze
- 100 grams dark chocolate
- 50 ml cream
- 50-100 grams hazelnuts
For the meringue
Use a food processor or a knife to roughly chop the nuts.
Turn the oven on at 150° C (300° F) in fan mode. Line three baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Draw a circle 26 cm in diameter in the middle of each baking tray.
Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Place the yolks in the refrigerator. Add egg whites to a large bowl and begin to foam with a hand beater. Add a pinch of salt. When it becomes white and thick, gradually add in the sugar. Finally, mix in the potato flour and chopped nuts.
Spoon the meringues within the circles on your baking trays, then put in the oven. After 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 110° C (230° F) and bake for one more hour. Leave the biscuits to cool overnight in the oven.
For the filling (to be made the next day):
Boil the water and sugar until it becomes dissolved into a thin syrup. Add the hot syrup to a bowl with the egg yolks and whisk together, then add butter, cocoa, condensed milk and liqueur of your choice. Cool the cream in the refrigerator.
Assembly
Remove the baking paper from the base of each meringue and gently flip them over. Start with one meringue on the bottom of your serving platter of choice and spread 1/3 of the filling on it leaving a 2 cm border from the edge. Put the second meringue on top and repeat, then add the remaining layer on the third.
For the glaze
Combine the chocolate and cream in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of hot water, then keep stirring until smooth.
Decorate cake as desired and leave in the fridge for 3 hours before serving.