Merveilleux

Ingredients

Meringue

• 4egg whites, at room temperature
• 120 gcaster sugar
• 120 gicing sugar
• a pinch of salt
• a few drops of lemon juice

Cream

• 600 mldouble cream, very cold
• 40 gicing sugar
• 1 tspvanilla

Coating

• 200 gdark chocolate, in shavings or curls

Optional

• 2 tbspcocoa powder, for the cream

Directions

1. Make sure the bowl and whisk are spotlessly clean and dry, with no trace of fat. Any grease at all, including a speck of yolk, stops egg whites reaching full volume, and meringue is unforgiving about it.
2. Whisk the whites with the salt and lemon juice to soft peaks. Add the caster sugar a spoonful at a time, whisking well between each addition, until the meringue is thick and glossy.
3. Add the sugar slowly. Rub a little between your fingers: it should feel completely smooth with no sugar grains left. Sift the icing sugar over and fold it in gently with a spatula. Pipe 16 discs about 7 cm across onto lined trays, spiralling from the centre outward.
4. Bake at 100°C (210°F) for 2 hours, then turn the oven off and leave them inside until completely cold. Low and slow keeps the meringue white and gets it crisp right through, and a hotter oven browns it and leaves the middle chewy.
5. Whip the very cold cream with the icing sugar and vanilla to firm peaks. Whip it firmer than for a dessert cream, because it has to hold the shape of the pastry and take a coating. Stop the moment it holds a peak, because over-whipped cream goes grainy and then turns to butter.
6. Cover it entirely. A merveilleux is a smooth dome of cream with no meringue showing, and that is what makes it look like one. Roll or press chocolate shavings all over the surface until it is thickly covered. Make the shavings by drawing a peeler along the flat side of a slightly warm chocolate bar.
7. Chill at least 2 hours before serving. Eat them the day they are assembled, because the meringue dissolves entirely by the next day.

Technique

• The name means marvellous, and the related incroyable and impensable are variations on the same idea.
• Unfilled meringue discs keep for a fortnight in an airtight tin.
• Coffee, speculoos and praline are the common alternative coatings.

Substitutions

• Grated chocolate in place of shavings, which is easier and looks different.
• Crushed speculoos biscuits as a coating.

Variations

• L’incroyable, with speculoos and white chocolate.
• Coffee cream with dark chocolate.
• Made small, as a one-bite petit four.

History

A Belgian pâtisserie classic revived by specialist shops in Brussels and Lille in the 2000s.

Frequently asked questions

What is Merveilleux?

Merveilleux is a dessert from Belgium: two meringue shells joined with whipped cream and coated in chocolate shavings. A Belgian pâtisserie classic revived by specialist shops in Brussels and Lille in the 2000s.

How long does Merveilleux take to make?

Merveilleux takes 40 min plus chilling of preparation and 2 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 8 pastries. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Merveilleux?

Yes, within limits. Grated chocolate in place of shavings, which is easier and looks different. Crushed speculoos biscuits as a coating.