Meringue Gelato Cake with Chocolate Sauce

I've been feeling rather absent minded and distracted lately with all that's been happening, but I think its time to turn my attention back to a primary love - FOOD! I had thumbed through Nigella's new book about a month ago after going to the book signing and the desserts look fabulously delicious and uncomplicated.

I was so inspired that I thought about doing a cookbook cook through, but since I've been back at work I've been feeling less than inspired to make the effort to cook anything but tried and trusted easy weekday food that requires no thinking. Also, if I did do a cookbook cook through, would it be cheating if I didn't follow the recipe to the letter and just picked out the ingredients and made it how I want to in order to come up with a similar result?

Nevertheless, the Meringue Gelato Cake with Chocolate Sauce definitely caught my attention and it turned out to be far too easy for an ice cream guzzler like me to eat. What's in it? Four key ingredients, and some extra cream for the sauce.

• Meringue - crushed up. Mine are looking slightly darker than usual since I wasn't paying enough attention and they browned a little too much!!


• Ice cream - vanilla (could be anything you want though really)


• Chocolate - some shaved into the ice cream mix, and some made into a sauce (I just melted it and added a bit of cream)


• Raspberries - for decoration and to cut through some of the sweetness.

After mixing up the ingredients and refreezing it all, it turned out a little like a different version of a Viennetta (without all the pretty swirls) or a cassata perhaps? Either way, it was great stuff and didn't last long in the freezer at all.



Next on my Nigella hit list: a chocolate hazelnut cheesecake!