Final preparations

Only a few hours to go, so it's time to finish off the last few desserts for the party. The last one I had originally planned was to be a chocolate fudge tart, served with an orange sauce. But seeing as I've got 6 egg whites left over from the tiramisu and a rather a lot of the cherry gel from the Black Forest Gateau, doing a pavlova seemed an obvious addition too.

Pavlova
Ingredients

• 6 Egg whites
• 340g Caster sugar
• 1 tsp Cornflour
• 1 tsp Lemon juice
• 1 tsp Vanila extract

Method

1. Whisk the egg whites until stiff.
2. Gradually the sugar and beat until a spoon can be stood in the mixture.
3. Beat in the cornflour, lemon juice and vanilla extract.
4. Spread out into an oval ~3cm thick on a lined baking sheet
   
5. Bake at 140C/Gas Mark 1 for ~1 hour until the top is a pale biscuit colour.
6. Remove from the baking sheet (peeling off the lining paper) and allow to cool fully on a wire rack.

Here's the pavlova ready for the oven.
And straight out of it. The cracks are from me being somewhat ham-fisted when removing the teflon baking liner.I also reduced the remaining cherry gel down to about half its original volume and added a generous slug of cherry brandy. I'll serve the pavlova with this sauce and the remaining whipped cream.

Chocolate Fudge Tart with an Orange Sauce
Ingredients
For the case

• 170g Plain flour
• 85g Butter
• Very cold water

For the filling

• 140g Plain chocolate
• 170g Butter
• 340g Caster sugar
• 95g Plain flour
• 6 Eggs, lightlybeaten
  

For the sauce

• 170ml Orange juice
• 2 tbsp Grand Marnier
• 225g Caster sugar
• 1 tbsp Orange zest

Method

1. Make the shortcrust flan case. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Add 2 tbsp very cold water to mix into a crumbly dough, first with a knife then with one hand.
3. Cover and refrigerate for 30 mins.
4. Roll out to line a greased flan ring and prick the bottom of the flan case all over.
5. Weigh down with baking beans.
6. Bake at ~200C/Gas Mark 6 for ~20 mins then remove the baking beans and return to the oven for a further 10 mins until lightly golden.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully.
8. Make the filling. Melt the chocolate and butter together over a double boiler. Remove from the heat.
   
9. Mix the sugar, flour and eggs in a bowl and whisk until well blended.
10. Stir in the chocolate/butter mixture and pour into the flan case.
11. Bake at 180C/Gas Mark 4 for ~50 mins until the filling is just set.
12. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
13. Make the sauce. Mix the orange juice, Grand Marnier and sugar saucepan. Cook over a low heat stirring constantly until reduce by half.
14. Stir in the zest and allow to cool.
    

I didn't have any Grand Marnier or orange zest, so I had to leave them out. Here's the tart case finished (step 7).And the completed flan ready for the oven.And straight from the oven. It's slightly burnt, but not horrendously so...Right, bring on the party!