Hmmm Easter. Eggs. Chocolate. I know, I’ll make some cute chocolatey meringue nests and will fill them with sweetness and appeal to kids. After all Easter Eggs are just for the kids, right? Yeah right. Much as you swear you will not attack, a crumb passes your lips and then you are finished, you swoop and crack piece after piece until the egg has disappeared and you dissolve into a chocolate coma much like the indulgent town mayor in this scene from Chocolat.
My plans for meringue nests soon changed as after several minutes of beating egg whites with sugar and cocoa powder I realised that nope, fluffy meringue was not about to happen – I think it was the weight of the cocoa powder. So what to do but to throw in some flour and the egg yolks and fill some heart-shaped cases for chocolate buns. They looked good as they came out of the oven but upon tasting them I realised that I had forgotten to add some butter – disaster. The cakes were over spongey and it was difficult to get them out of the cases but I persevered. There was surely something that could be done to salvage the situation. And the answer was cream and fruit. One of my all time favourite desserts is simply fresh fruit and cream, you just can’t go wrong with it. I sliced my hearts in two so they became platforms for a good dolloping of fresh Irish cream and some succulent pear slices adorned with shavings of chocolate and one of my favourite chocolate sweets. I may have hailed these a scrumptious triumph in the title but they weren’t really. They were grand. They were alright but at least they didn’t head in the direction of the bin and each one was a sweet mouthful enjoyed with a cup of tea.
On occasion things will go wrong in the kitchen but unless you’ve absolutely cremated the dish beyond recognition there is usually something you can do to alter and turn it towards a palatable direction. Don’t despair, believe in yourself and you will be able to turn every disaster to triumph.
‘Til next time, Sheila.
