chocolate orange eton mess

… so last week I started with a personal trainer called Gareth.  I wasn’t going to mention it on the blog because i’ve started so many things here and very rarely followed them through but then I thought that this is an on-line diary of my life and exploits and I do love sharing with you all. I love it.  We work outdoors in a local park in London and whilst i’m enjoying it immensely it is bloody hard work. I’m using muscles I didn’t even know I had and because I suffer from a bad lower back our work is concentrating on strengthening my core and hamstrings with plenty of lunges and planks plus i’m using this harness gadget called a TRX which is quite frankly a little rude but I smile sweetly at Gareth and get on with it… and he doesn’t suffer fools either this young chap.  He told me he was here to make it harder each week, there would be no ‘it gets easier’ from Gareth.  He also asked me to work on a food diary for a couple of weeks.  I’m half way through and it’s utterly fascinating to actually write down everything we eat and because I have an understand of food from writing my blog it’s even more so.  It seems i’m living on a ‘skinny week and fat weekend’ kind of diet and Gareth says this works well for me as long as I control my mid-week wine intake… I have a feeling Gareth may need his head examining…

chocolate orange eton mess
so I was talking with my non-gluten eating sister the other day and I mentioned I needed to create something sweet and a little different for the blog and she suggested an eton mess… now I love an eton mess but it’s not perhaps the most creative idea so I asked her to suggest so more things but she stubbornly stuck with the eaton mess… well actually her suggestion was to make a pavlova, we eat half of it and then I make the eton mess.  I got the hint and decided that an eton mess would have to be made.  I adore the chocolate-orange combo and seeing that I’m always looking for a twist i’ve used that combination of flavours here and it’s worked a treat with the sharpness of the orange cutting beautifully through the sweet, sweet chocolate meringue and chocolate cream.  The marmalade just takes it all to a very sophisticated place.  Of course it was only at the point of eating it that I realised i’d been doubly duped by the sister, having created her favourite pudding that also happened to be naturally gluten-free…

for the chocolate meringue
3 large free-range egg whites
150g caster sugar
50g good quality dark chocolate – grated
2 teaspoons cocoa powder

for the cream
100g good quality dark chocolate
50ml double cream

1 tablespoon marmalade

preheat the oven to 140C and line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper

in a large bowl whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form then gradually whisk in the sugar until stiff peaks form.  Add the grated chocolate and sieve in the cocoa and fold gently into the meringue.

gently pour the mixture onto the baking tray and smooth out into a large oval and quickly put in the oven before the mixture loses volume

bake for 40 minutes and then turn the oven off and leave it in there until the oven and meringue is cool – remove and set aside

to make the cream, gently melt the chocolate in a pan and then set aside whilst you whip the cream to a thickish consistency, then take a tablespoon or two of the cream and beat it into the melted chocolate, then take this chocolate cream and gently stir it into the rest of the cream with the cream so that you have a kind of chocolate ripple effect.

build your eton mess by either creating it all in one large bowl by simply breaking up the meringue and then adding all the other ingredients and string together or you can do it in individual pots … break up the meringue and place a little in the bottom of the bowl, then add alternate layers of cream, marmalade and fruit and more meringue… drizzling melted chocolate and grating a little orange peel on top adds a nice flourish

I am of course linking this stunning eton mess to the Belleau Kitchen Simply Eggcellent bloggers link-up which has the theme of anything goes… I’m also linking it to the brilliant we should cocoa challenge founded and hosted by Choclette over at Tin and Thyme which also has the theme of anything goes!

this eton mess with its orange zest is also perfect for the AlphaBakes challenge hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and Ros from The More Than Occasional Baker the letter this month is a tricky Z… i’m also linking this up with Karen from the lovely Lavender and Lovage and her Tea Time Treats link-up which has the theme of Summer Holiday Baking…

eat and of course enjoy!