Hazelnut Meringue Layer Cake with French Coffee Buttercream and Caramelized Hazelnut Clusters

Here is the recipe.

Here is the final product:

This recipe was pretty difficult. Meringues in general are pretty hard, but it had a complicated buttercream as well. I had looked up why my meringues always crack, and internet said it could be that my oven is too high, or the change in temperature is too much when it is taken out of the oven, OR I mix it on too high a speed when beating the egg whites and sugar. So I was careful with all of these. I beat the egg whites on a medium speed, then added the sugar when the egg whites were frothy. I added it a tablespoon at a time, and waited a minute between each tablespoon. This is actually the most pleased I've been with the texture of a meringue I've made! So I was really pleased. I set our oven 10 degrees lower than the recipe (I think it runs a bit hot), and cooled them in the oven. And no cracks! Well, ok, one crack, but it was from me hitting it with the oven mitt, not the cooling process, so it doesn't count.

The buttercream was also difficult. It took 10 (10!) egg yolks, which you beat until frothy. Then you have to heat up sugar and water until boiling, and let it get to 238 degrees, at which point you take it off the heat and pour it slowly into the egg yolks, beating the whole time so they yolks don't cook. Then you have to continue beating it until the whole thing cools, so timing is important. (Note: it sucked our guests arrived right at this stage, because I couldn't really stop beating without ruining the whole thing and the beater was super loud. Because you wanted to know.) Anyway, according to the recipe this is called a pâte à bombe, which sounds cool, so I wanted to tell you. Once the thing is cooled, you whip butter (a LOT of butter) and then add the pâte à bombe one tablespoon at a time, beating all the while. I used a hand beater that needed the button continuously pressed to keep beating, and man, my hand hurt after this one. Anyway, the easy part, at the end, was adding some of the instant coffee (dissolved in water) and vanilla. And beating it some more.

Phew, despite difficulty, I think those two turned out really well! In the end, the only thing I wasn't super pleased with was the hazelnut topping. I had to use the toaster oven to make it, since the oven was occupied with the meringues (which took a whopping 3 hours to bake, plus cooling in the oven), and the toaster oven does what it always does, which is burn things. So the topping started out well, but got a little too burnt at the end for my taste. Still worked, but I wish it was just a little less burny.

Husband said it was his favorite of the desserts I made recently, and it was a hit with our guests (including their two young kids, and kids can be picky!) so all and all, success. Thanks if you made it through all that, I was proud of this one!

Got to smash some hazelnuts in a bag with a rolling pin. Baby really got a kick out of watching that.

The hazelnut flavor in the meringue was made of this, hazelnuts, sugar, and a little flour all food processed together.

Finished meringue, I was super careful with the mixing, so I didn't take pictures in stages. I know you miss the picture of frothy eggs whites, and the slow adding of sugar.