2. Roast the raw walnuts. Heat a dry skillet on medium heat and when the skillet is hot add the walnuts and cook for about 2 minutes, until you begin to smell the fragrant aroma of the walnuts. Remove from heat, separate the quantity need for each part of the recipe. For the walnut pavlova base, grind to a rough meal stage
3. Separate the egg whites and save yolks for later. Wipe down the mixing bowl with white vinegar and then add the egg whites to the bowl. Whip at high speed to the frothy stage. Add the lemon juice and whip until the light peak stage
4. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the confectionery sweetener 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time, blending well between each addition. Add the whey protein isolate. After adding all the sweetener increase speed to high and whip to stiff peak stage
5. Add the ground walnuts and fold into the meringue, 1/3 at a time. Be careful not to deflate the meringue
6. Line the bottom of a 16 cm or 6 1/2 inch spring form pan with parchment and grease the sides with either unflavored butter or coconut oil. Pour the meringue batter into the pan and smooth out the surface
7. Place into the lower third of the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and prop the oven door to leave a small gap. Leave in the oven for about 2 hours
8. Take out of the oven and place on cooling rack. Remove the side of the pan and leave to cool for 24 hours to dry out and crisp up
9. Place your small pot onto the stove-top, and add about 2 inches / 5 cm of water. Bring to light simmer
10. Place a bowl that will fit over the pot, add all the layer’s ingredients. Place the bowl on top of the pot with the simmering water. Stir slowly and constantly until the ingredients have melted and combined. When done, remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature
11. Take the cake out of the fridge. Remove the spring form sides and transfer the meringue base to a larger, 20 cm or 8 inch spring form pan that is lined with parchment paper. Pour about 1/3 of the cooled chocolate truffle sauce on top only. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and top with the second layer of chocolate. Repeat for the third layer. Leave in the refrigerator until the cake is needed again
12. Make a simple syrup by adding the water and sweetener. Bring to boil, stir continuously, and cook over medium heat until the sweetener is completely dissolved and a deep golden color
13. In a deep sided frying pan, add the butter and cook over medium heat until the butter solids separate and turn a gold brown color. Add the salt and the vanilla. Stir well. Add the simple syrup to the pan, and stir well. Cook for a minute or two to combine and for the color to deepen to a golden brown
14. Add the cream, stirring and being careful (CAUTION: the addition of cream will cause frothing and bubbling which is extremely hot). Cook over medium/medium low heat at a light simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes (or until the sauce thickens to the consistency of liquid honey and covers the back of the spoon), stirring constantly so that the caramel does not burn. Set aside to cool (do not refrigerate)
15. To the bowl with the room temperature egg yolks, add the confectionery sweetener and whisk until the yolk mixture is a pale yellow. Set aside
16. Chop the remaining walnuts to small pieces. Add the needed amount to the caramel sauce and stir. Place the pot with the walnut caramel sauce on a low heat stove top. Add the egg yolks to the caramel sauce and stir well. Add the salt and stir. Cook over low heat for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat to cool
17. Get the cake and spoon the caramel walnut sauce onto only the top of the chocolate layer (so that it does not run down the sides). Refrigerate until needed again
18. Dissolve the packet of gelatin in cold water, stir and set aside for 10 minutes. Melt in a bath of warm water and add the instant coffee. Mix well before adding to the mascarpone cream
19. In a large mixing bowl, add the mascarpone cheese, confectionery sweetener, and vanilla. Mix to combine. Pour in the liquid coffee gelatin mixture. Whisk to combine well. NOTE: if the mixture become too stiff before adding to whipped cream, dilute with 1 or 2 tbsp of milk or water. Stir until very smooth
20. Into a large mixing bowl add the whipping cream and whisk at high speed to firm peaks stage
21. Add 1/3 of the creamy mascarpone mixture to the whipped cream and fold to combine. Repeat until everything has been combined. Scoop about 1 cup into a piping bag
22. Get the cake and with your piping bag squeeze out the mascarpone cream around the perimeter so that the cream reaches just above the cake. Squeeze out any remining piping bag content onto the cake. Scoop the remining mascarpone cream to cover the top of the cake. Smooth out with an offset spatula. Refrigerate overnight so that the mouse can set
23. Prepare a double batch of caramel sauce. See the instructions above, steps 11 to 13
24. Dissolve 2 packets of gelatin in half a cup of cold water, stir and set aside 10 minutes for the gelatin to bloom. Re-melt and then pour into the caramel sauce. Stir well to combine completely and then set aside to cool
25. Place the cake onto a raised platform lined with parchment (see FYI for alternative approach). place on a baking sheet
26. Pour the caramel mirror glaze over the back of a spoon to allow the glaze to pour over the top and sides. If needed, scoop the runoff to touch up the sides
27. Place the chopped roasted walnuts around the bottom perimeter of the cake. Use the parchment to gently press into the glaze
28. Remove parchment strips and refrigerate until glaze is well set
29. Combine bakers unsweetened chocolate and sweetener in a small pot and melt over low heat
30. Make 6 medium and smaller petals on long strips of parchment. Drape over curved surface and refrigerate until all the petals have hardened. Gently peel off parchment to facilitate assembly of flower
31. To the center of a square piece of parchment, place a spoonful of melted chocolate. Arrange 5 of the larger petals on the outside, with their bases set in the chocolate. Let set. Place a second, small spoonful of chocolate on top of the first center mound and then place the smaller petals in place. Let set. Decorate with gold dust or glitter as desired. Using a spatula, very carefully loosen and lift the flower from the parchment and place in the center of the cake. OPTIONAL: make a third layer of flatter and larger petals to be placed underneath the flower. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy!
This is an extremely rich and satisfying cake, so very small pieces are needed per serving. To achieve 24 servings, I cut the cake into quarters, then each quarter into thirds, and each third in half. You can, of course, choose whatever size you want, just consider the carb load you can tolerate. The cake keeps well in the fridge if covered with a glass dome or cling wrap.
Lastly, this cake may seem really complex, but that is due to the number of layers of which it is made. Each layer is quite easy to make and as you have seen I use 2 of my previously posted recipes; the Chocolate Truffle Fat Bombs and the Keto Caramel Sauce and Fat Bombs. The new step is making the first meringue cake layer. However, this is the exact same base, minus the walnuts, as is used to make a pavlova or meringue base. Hope you do give this a try at some point, and let me know your thoughts.
By Angela Wilkes
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