How to Make the Mont Blanc Dessert

French Meringue Base (make first — up to 5 days ahead)

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 100°C (fan). Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then add the caster sugar a spoonful at a time, whisking until the meringue is stiff, glossy and the sugar has fully dissolved — rub a little between your fingers; it should feel smooth, not gritty.

Step 2. Gently fold in the sifted icing sugar with a spatula until just combined.

Step 3. Using a plain 10mm nozzle, pipe tight spirals 7cm wide onto parchment. Pipe 8 so you have spares. Bake for about 90 minutes, until completely dry and the discs lift cleanly from the paper. Turn the oven off and leave them inside with the door ajar to cool. Store airtight.

Blackcurrant Fluid Gel

Step 4. Whisk the sugar and agar agar together, then whisk into the cold blackcurrant purée. Bring to a full rolling boil and hold for 1 minute — agar only activates once boiled.

Step 5. Pour into a shallow tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes until firmly set. Blend the set jelly until completely smooth and glossy, pass through a fine sieve, and transfer to a small piping bag.

Chestnut Cream

Step 6. Beat the soft butter until pale. Add the chestnut purée and the chestnut spread in three additions, beating until smooth after each. Add the rum and the fleur de sel.

Step 7. Push the chestnut cream through a fine drum sieve or tamis with a scraper. This is non-negotiable — a single fibre will block a hole in the Mont Blanc nozzle and break your strands. Fit the nozzle into a piping bag, fill, and keep at cool room temperature (about 18–20°C) so it pipes smoothly without splitting.

Vanilla Mascarpone Chantilly

Step 8. Combine the cold cream, mascarpone, icing sugar and vanilla seeds. Whisk to firm, smooth peaks — stop before it turns grainy. The mascarpone is what lets the dome hold its height under the weight of the chestnut. Transfer to a piping bag with a 12mm plain nozzle.

Assembly & Plating

Step 9. Place a meringue disc on each plate, slightly off-centre. Pipe a ring of Chantilly around the edge of the disc. Fill the centre with about 1 teaspoon of blackcurrant gel, then pipe more Chantilly over the top to close it into a dome roughly 5cm high. Chill or freeze for 15 minutes to firm.

Step 10. Holding the Mont Blanc nozzle about 2cm from the dome, pipe the chestnut cream in continuous loops, working from the base upwards, until the Chantilly is completely covered in a nest of fine strands. Keep the pressure even and the movement unhurried.

Step 11 — Finish. Dust the peak lightly with icing sugar — the snow on the summit. Top with half a marron glacé and a fleck of gold leaf, and add three small dots of blackcurrant gel on the plate. Serve within the hour, before the meringue begins to soften.

Take Your Mont Blanc Dessert Further

For a hot-and-cold finish, serve it with a quenelle of crème fraîche ice cream beside the dome — our guide to the three-spoon quenelle shows you how to shape it, and temperature as an ingredient explains why the contrast works. If your meringue is giving you trouble, start with how sugar actually works.