Cielaviņa is a typical Latvian cake that combines crunchy meringue with a tasty chocolate cream. It reminds me of my childhood; when I was little we always bought it from “Staburadze” – a Latvian confectionary manufacturer. But I always wanted to try a home-made version of it and my last birthday seemed to be the right occasion! Now I’m publishing this recipe right before Latvian National Day (the 18th of November). So, try this delicious Latvian cake to celebrate it!

Ingredients: Meringue

• 400g powder sugar
• 6 egg whites
• a pinch of salt
• 2 table spoons of corn starch
• 200g hazelnuts

Chocolate butter cream

• 6 egg yolks
• 4 table spoons of sugar
• 40g water
• 250-300g butter (room temperature)
• 200ml sweet condensed milk
• 4-5 table spoons of cacao
• a pinch of salt
• 1-2 table spoons of rum

Chocolate glaze:

• 100g dark chocolate
• 50ml sweet cream

Step by step:

• Start by preparing the meringue. Ideally, you will prepare it one day before you put the cake together. Due to time limit, I prepared it the same day as the cream and it turned out very tasty anyway!
• Pre-heat the oven to 150°C.
• Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and place the egg yolks in the fridge.
• Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on medium speed. Gradually add sugar and beat until the meringue becomes stiff and glossy. Add a pinch of salt.
• Put hazelnuts in the bowl of a food processor and pulse for a few seconds until the nuts are slightly ground, while leaving some bigger crunchy pieces.
• Gently mix the meringue with the ground hazelnuts and corn starch.

• Make two circles of baking paper, 26cm in diameter. Place half of the meringue on each of the circles. Make sure that the meringue is well distributed on an even layer.

• Place both meringue circles into the oven and bake them at 150°C for 15 minutes. Then, turn down the temperature to 110°C and leave them in for another hour. Once finished, you can leave them to cool down in the oven.

• Meanwhile, prepare the cream. Place sugar together with water in a pot and heat it up to get a syrup with a maximum temperature of 120°C.
• Place the egg yolks in the mixing bowl and start to mix them with an electric mixer on medium speed. While they are mixing, gradually add the sirup.
• Once you get a light yellow foam, gradually add  butter and condensed milk. At the end, add cacao, pinch of salt and rum. Mix all well together. You can place the cream shortly in the fridge but make sure it does not get too hard, because otherwise it will be difficult to spread it on the meringues.
• Prepare your glaze by heating up the sweet cream and mixing in the chocolate until it has melted. Let it cool down.
• Once your meringues have cooled down – you can put the cake together. It’s best to do it directly on your serving dish.
• Gently remove the baking paper and place one of the meringues on your serving dish. Put one half of the cream on the meringue and smooth it out. Place another meringue on top and put the cream and smooth it out.
• Pour the glaze on top of your cake and smooth it out with the help of a spatula. Decorate your cake with some hazelnuts.
• Enjoy!