Meringue cake with hazelnuts

We are preparing not just meringue, beloved by many sweet teeth, but a meringue cake with chocolate and coffee creams. And with ground hazelnuts, the meringue cake will turn out wonderfully fragrant.

Ingredients

• Hazelnuts (roasted and peeled) - 1 cup
• Corn starch - 2 tbsp. l.
• Powdered sugar - 1 1/2 cups + 4 tbsp. l.
• Egg whites - 6 pcs.
• Cream of tartar - 1/2 tsp
• Whipping cream - 3 cups
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Melted chocolate - 100 g
• Espresso powder - 1 tbsp. l.
• Chocolate for decoration

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. On the foil, draw 4 circles, 20 cm in diameter. In a food processor, grind the nuts, cornstarch and 3/4 cup powdered sugar.
2. In a large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add 3/4 of the powdered sugar (2 tablespoons at a time). Beat until stable peaks.
3. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the nut mixture. With a metal spatula, spread 1/4 of the egg mixture onto each circle of foil. Bake 45 minutes. Leave the finished cakes to dry for 1 hour in the oven with the gas turned off.
4. Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack. Remove foil.
5. Prepare chocolate cream. In a small bowl, beat 1 1/2 cups cream, 1 tbsp. l. powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. Beat until soft peaks. With a rubber spatula, mix the cream with chocolate. Mix until smooth. Separate 1/4 tbsp. chocolate cream. Prepare coffee cream. In a glass, dilute espresso with 2 tbsp. l. cream. In a small bowl, beat the remaining cream and 3 tbsp. l. powdered sugar. Add coffee mixture and beat well.
6. Assembling the meringue cake. Put 1 cake on a large dish, grease with half of the chocolate cream. Put another cake on the chocolate cream and grease with coffee cream. Repeat the same with the remaining two cakes and creams. Place the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate cream in the middle of the cake. Place the meringue cake in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours or overnight. Before serving, decorate the top of the cake with chocolate.