Soft Hazelnut Meringue with Chocolate Mocha Mousse (Fragilité)

This soft hazelnut meringue, also known as Fragilité, is a layered dessert with soft meringue and creamy chocolate mocha mousse. Although stunning, it is a fairly simple dessert to make and will definitely wow any guests.

This soft hazelnut meringue is filled with a delicious chocolate mocha mousse.

Who said meringue has to be crispy? Not me. Don’t get me wrong, I love them with a crunchy outside and a fluffy middle just like my Ferrero Rocher meringue, but the reason this meringue is soft is because it is filled with layers of chocolate mocha mousse. Yum.

What is fragilité?

The name for this delicacy is fragilité, which is French for fragility. What a beautiful (and very fitting) name for this dessert.

Due to its name, you couldn’t be blamed for assuming that this is a French dessert. It might surprise you to learn that it is, in fact, Danish. I am going to be perfectly honest and say up until making this, I’d never heard of a Fragilité, let alone eaten one.

Developed by Johannes Steen in Copenhagen in the early 1900s, the dessert consists of three thin layers of soft hazelnut meringue and is traditionally filled with mocha buttercream.

This soft meringue dessert was so simple to make, and it turned out way better than I’d imagined. It really does have the wow factor in both taste and appearance. However, I now realise why it was named fragilité. It is a teeny bit delicate when assembling.

Adapting the recipe

I kept the three layers of meringue, but thought buttercream might be a little heavy, and decided on chocolate mocha mousse instead. Because the meringue is so thin, when layered with the mousse, it becomes very soft and almost dissolves.

The mousse itself offers a strong hit of coffee and is enriched with milk chocolate, along with a touch of cocoa. When layered together, the result is out of this world. Really. I’ve never tasted anything quite like it and I do believe it easily falls into my top ten of best ever recipes. Yes, indeed. I’d make it again tomorrow in a heartbeat. Well, if the calorie content was vastly reduced, anyway. It’s most definitely a special occasion kind of dessert.

More show-stopper desserts

If you want to whip up a dessert or cake to impress, check out these other recipes:

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Soft Hazelnut Meringue with Chocolate Mocha Mousse (Fragilité)

Course Dessert

Cuisine Danish

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 16

Servings 8 slices

Ingredients

Hazelnut Meringue:

125g (4½ oz) roasted hazelnuts
120g (⅔ cup) brown sugar
4 egg whites (medium)
70g (⅔ cup) icing / powdered sugar

Mocha Mousse:

100g (3½ oz) milk or dark chocolate
250ml (1 cup) whipping cream
1-1½ tbsp instant coffee (see note 1)
1 tbsp cocoa

Topping:

hazelnuts
20g (2 tbsp) chocolate

Instructions

Hazelnut Meringue:

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C (300℉).
Line a large oven tray with grease-proof paper. Draw a large rectangle of 36cm x 27cm (14" x 10½") on the paper.
Blitz the hazelnuts until they form a fine, gravely texture.
Remove 25g (2 tablespoons) and put aside to use as decoration.
Stir in the brown sugar.
In a bowl, whisk the egg whites until peaks form.
Add the icing (powdered) sugar gradually.
Fold the brown sugar/hazelnut mixture into the egg whites.
Pour out onto the baking tray and push up to the edges of the rectangle you have drawn, smoothing so that it has a fairly flat surface.
Bake right at the bottom of the oven for 16 minutes until lovely and golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Mousse:

Melt the chocolate in a Bain Marie (double boiler). Allow to cool.
Add the coffee, cocoa and cream to a bowl, and whip until it is nice and thick.
Fold in the melted chocolate. It should be the right consistency to use immediately, but if it is a little soft, pop it in the fridge for a while.

Assembly:

Cut the meringue into three parts, each 13cm wide (see note 2).
Place one on a serving dish or plate and dollop half of the chocolate mousse mixture over the top, spreading to evenly cover the meringue.
Place the second meringue on top and repeat.
Finally, place the final meringue on top.
Melt some chocolate and drizzle all over the dessert, finishing off with the remaining hazelnuts. Slice and serve. Enjoy!

Notes

Please note: I use scales to measure my ingredients but have included cups and ounces to help my readers. Because I have not used imperial measurements myself, results cannot be guaranteed if you choose to use cups and ounces.

I used 1½ tablespoons of coffee and it was pretty strong. If you don't want such a sharp hit of coffee, reduce it to 1 tablespoon (or even just ½).
I had problems removing the grease-proof paper. The meringue is very fragile and thin, and I was worried I would rip half of the meringue off with the paper. I put the meringue in the freezer for 30 minutes and this made the process much easier (although you will still need to take your time and be gentle).