Mascarpone Meringue Layer Cake

I love trying new recipes, unfortunately this feeling tends to arise whenever I have a dinner party or  something special to bake for. Sometimes it works out well and the risk pays off, but there are times when it doesn't and I end up learning a 'tough' lesson. I say 'tough' as it really is not that big of a deal in the great scheme of things!

In this case it was Christmas Day Dinner (because it was a scorching 41deg Celsius on the day here in Perth). I was requested buy my Aunt to please bring dessert. I had recently spotted a recipe online that boasted to be "The best dessert you'll ever have". I know I am guilty of loosley throwing that term around but in this case I though WOW! got to try that recipe. So I filed it away for Christmas Dinner. 

It was quite a process, I had never made meringue before let alone three massive meringue nests, but I wanted to challenge myself and branch out a bit. I carefully followed the recipe and was very proud of my raw meringue mix. It was white, fluffy and super tasty.

The cooked meringues turned out ok for a first time attempt. I don't think they would have won any prizes at the CWA fair but they were not a flop! I mixed up the mascarpone mixture and had my chocolate ganache ready to go.

I proceeded to assemble the whole thing. A layer of meringue followed by a mascarpone mix followed by decadent ganache, repeated three times. IT WAS HUGE and heavy and I was a little nervous transporting it! Thankfully it arrived in tacked.

When it came to tasting time I had that usual flutter of nerves when I watch people eating something I have never tasted myself. Bless my family, they were very gracious with their comments, no one said outright that it was not good, but there were no appreciative murmurs of how amazing it was either. 

I was disappointed with this dessert, it was just way too sweet! And that says a lot coming from a person who happily has something sweet at every opportunity and believes we should eat dessert at the beginning of a meal and not the end! It was un-enjoyably sweet and left me needing a class of water to wash it down. So in this case the experiment, although not a failure, did not turn out as I had hoped and I probably won't be making this again!