Makes: 12 mini dome cakes (6cm in diameter)

Time required: 3 hours in total, over 2-3 nights

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

The flavours for this cake were inspired by Koko Black’s ‘Passion’ chocolate – bitter, sour and sweet all in one small chocolate. I first tried this passionfruit & chocolate blend four years ago in Melbourne and it is still my favourite flavour combination.

The inspiration for the meringue coating is from my favourite cocktail – the Lavendar Meringue pie from Hong Kong’s Quinary Bar. Although the cocktail itself is very lemon-y, the richness of the meringue with each sip of your cocktail provides a great balance of sweet & sour.

Ingredients:

Chocolate ganache:

• 150g dark chocolate
• 100ml cream
• 10g butter

Passionfruit dome:

• 200g passionfruit, seeds removed
• 100g sugar
• 1 gelatin leaf
• 175ml cream, whipped

Shortbread crust:

• 225g butter
• 100g sugar
• 350g flour

Meringue:

• 2 egg whites
• 180g caster sugar
• 60ml water

Instructions:

Chocolate ganache:

1. Bring cream to boil and pour over dark chocolate. Set aside for 2 minutes
2. Mix in the melted chocolate with the cream
3. stir in the butter, and set aside to cool while making the passionfruit dome

Passionfruit dome:

1. Place sugar and passionfruit over low-medium heat until all the sugar has dissolved and the passionfruit slightly thickens
2. stir in the bloomed gelatin sheet and set aside to cool
3. once the mixture is at room temperature, gently fold in whipped cream
4. pour the passionfruit mousse into dome moulds (around 6cm in diameter), leaving a little space for a the chocolate ganache
5. pipe in around 2tsbp of chocolate ganache. Alternatively, if you have more time to make these cakes you could freeze the chocolate ganache the night before and cut out circles to place into the passionfruit mousse
6. place the domes into a freezer for at least 3 hours (preferably overnight) to harden

Shortbread crust:

1. Preheat oven to 160ºC fan forced
2. cream the butter and sugar in a bowl
3. add in the flour and mix well with a wooden spoon until a dough has formed
4. roll out the dough and slice it into 8cm discs. We want the shortbread crust to be at least 1cm wider than the passionfruit dome to be able to hold the meringue
5. bake for 8 minutes until golden

Meringue:

1. whisk egg whites until foamy
2. heat sugar and water over low-med heat until the syrup reaches 120ºC
3. while whisking the eggs, pour the sugar syrup in a thin stream down the side of the whisking bowl
4. continue to whisk the eggs until it form stiff peaks

Assembling the cake:

1. remove the passionfruit mousse dome from the freezer and un-mould the domes
2. place one dome over each disc of shortbread crust
3. cover the dome in meringue using a spatula (you could also pipe the meringue in flowers or spikes) and torch until golden brown

I also topped off my cakes with mini candy flowers chocolate decorations

 

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