A little introduction to this luscious old fashioned cake called Merveilleux...... Merveilleux, French for “marvelous”, originated from Belgium and like most pastries, they found their way to France. Various French Pastry chefs popularized it but it was Frederic Vaucamps originally from Lille, who successfully made it into a brand name by first opening his shop in Paris. His shops Aux Merveilleux de Fred are also in Belgium, Germany, UK, Switzerland and New York.

My first taste of the Merveilleux was in London. My husband and I were staying at The Ampersand Hotel in South Kensington. We walked past this bakery called Aux Merveilluex de Fred in Old Brompton Road and in the window were these amazingly beautiful mounds of pastries in a variety of different flavors and coatings of shaved chocolate, nuts, The first thing that came to my head was “there must be a lot of calories in those cakes!” I resisted buying them, admiring them from the window and drooling. I went back to my hotel before my I caved in. But I couldn’t get the image of the merveilluex in that window out of my head all night. Sadly, whilst my head was strong, my heart was weak and I gave in. The next day, I went back to Aux Merveilleux de Fred and had one. Being conscious of my calorie intake and weight control, I bought the mini original Merveilleux coated with shaved milk chocolate..... I was speechless. It was amazing.

I couldn’t believe the wonderful texture as I bit into it - light meringue sandwiched with whipped cream and then coated with more whipped cream and finally shaved chocolate as a topping. The meringue was still crispy on the inside. Note to self at that moment - I need to get the recipe.

A few momhts ago I purchased David Lebovitz’s cookbook, My Paris Kitchen and there in his book is a recipe for Merveilleux! He too of course has been to Frederic Vaucamp’s shop in Paris. Without further ado, I went ahead and made them. I’ve got to say it was such a find and thank you to David Lebovitz for publishing it.

A little note on these cakes : The cakes have a shelf life of 2 days in the refrigerator but are best eaten with 24 hours. They must be served chilled as well.

With Easter just round the corner, I thought I would make some with Merveilleux au Chocolat. You can vary the flavours and have just a vanilla cream filling and coated with crushed almonds or roasted coconut.

Recipe makes 20 Merveilleux cakes

MERINGUES

125 ml eggs whites at room temperature (approximately four large eggs)
Pinch of sea salt or kosher salt
140 g icing sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ White or cider vinegar

MERVEILLEUX VANILLA FILLING

625 ml whipping cream
90 g Icing sugar
2 tsp instant espresso powder
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
80g créme fraiche
285 g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely grated or chopped almonds

MERVEILLEUX CHOCOLATE FILLING (I used this recipe for my Easter Merveilleux)

MERVEILLEUX CHOCOLATE FILLING

750 ml whipping cream
350 g mascarpone cheese
500 g dark chocolate, melted and cooled

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 135°C or 275°F. line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
Make the meringues first. In a whisk in the bowl of a mixing stand, add the egg whites and beat on medium speed until foamy. Add the salt, turn up the speed of the mixer to high and whisk the eggs until you get a stiff peak. Lower the speed and add the icing sugar in 3 batches. Add the vanilla and vinegar last, and increase the speed to high. The texture of then meringue must stiff.
Prepare a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm (½ inch) size plain tip. Spoon the meringue into the bag and pipe 10 x 5cm /2 inch circles that are evenly spaced onto each lined baking sheet. You can call use a spatula to spread the meringue onto the sheets. Each circle should be relatively thick, at least 2.5cm/ 1 inch high. Don’t worry if they are not perfect, they will be covered up later.
Bake the meringues for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues in the oven until the oven is cool, and the meringues dry and crispy.
Whilst the meringues are cooling off in the oven, make the Merveilleux. First prepare 10 paper muffin cups on a small baking sheet or platter and flatten them a bit.
Vanilla Filling - In a stand mixture fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream on high speed until it holds its shape but not stiff. Add the icing sugar, espresso powder and vanilla. Whip at medium speed until shiny and stiff. The cream is done when it holds its shape quite firmly without drooping. The texture should be as thick as a buttercream. If it’s not stiff enough, the cream will seep and make the meringues soggy. At the end, whip in the creme fraiche.
Chocolate Filling - Whisk the mascarpone cheese in a bowl mixer to soften and smoothen the cream. Add whipping cream and whisk until soft peak. Temper the melted dark chocolate with a couple of large tablespoons of the cream by gently whisking the melted chocolate and cream together. Add the tempered chocolate back into the rest of the whipped cream and whisk until smooth
Spread a generous layer of cream over the 10 of the meringues - the layer of cream must be as thick as the meringue. Sandwich the cream with another meringue, and coat each of these sandwiched meringues with a layer of whipped cream. Chill them for a while to firm up the cream inside and to make it easier to work with.
Put the shaved chocolate or chopped almonds on a tray and roll the cake generously in the chocolate, making sure the surface of the cream is covered. Use a spoon or an offset spatula to lift the cake into a muffin case, bottom side down. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until ready to serve. The cake must be served chilled.