Crêpe cake with bitter chocolate mousse

Preheat the oven to 160ºC/gas mark 3. Line a baking tray with baking parchment

For the meringue, whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl with a third of the sugar. Continue whisking while adding the next third of the sugar, and when doubled in size, add the third part and continue to mix slowly until firm

Place in a piping bag and pipe small blobs of the mixture onto the baking paper for mini meringues. Place in the preheated oven then reduce the temperature to 110°C/gas mark ¼ and bake for 2 hours

Once cooked and crisp, remove from the oven and allow to cool until needed

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4 and line a deep baking tray with baking parchment

For the chocolate cake, whisk the eggs and sugar together in the bowl until light and fluffy, then slowly add the melted butter. Sieve in the flour, cocoa and baking powder and continue to mix until combined

Spread out on the baking tray to form a layer and bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool then place in the freezer for 1 hour before putting the semi-frozen cake into a food processor and blitzing quickly to form rough crumbs. Set aside until needed

The crêpes are made by mixing together the milk, butter, egg yolks, 40g of the sugar and flour for 3–4 minutes. Stir in the orange zest and allow the mixture to rest. Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites with the remaining 25g of sugar in a clean bowl to make a meringue, then gently fold this into the batter

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and line a baking tray with baking parchment

Spread a 1cm layer of the batter over the baking tray and bake for 10 minutes until just firm, then allow to cool

For the chocolate mousse, bring 100g of the cream and the sugar to the boil in a small pan. When the sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until completely melted

Whip 90g of the remaining cream to soft peaks and dissolve the gelatine in the remaining 10g of cream. Gently fold the whipped cream and gelatine mixture into the chocolate to form a mousse and chill until needed

For the berry purée, bring the berries to the boil in a pan over a medium heat then add the sugar and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and blitz in a blender, then pass through a sieve to form a smooth purée, similar to a jam consistency. Allow to cool

Repeat with the passion fruit and sugar to make a purée

Mix together the almond milk and water in a jug

To make the crêpe cake, carefully peel the baking parchment off the cooked crêpe and cut lengthways to make two long rectangles. Use a pastry brush to brush almond milk over one half, then spread with a layer of the berry purée. Place in the freezer to chill for 10 minutes or so

Spread (or pipe) a 2–3cm layer of the chocolate mousse over the purée and top with the other crêpe half, again brushing with the almond milk. Place in the freezer to chill for 2 hours, or until hard enough to be cut

Meanwhile, make a chocolate sauce by gently melting the chocolate with the water over a bain marie. Set aside and keep warm

To serve, spread a smear of the chocolate sauce over each serving plate, then sprinkle with the chocolate cake crumbs. Remove the crêpe cake from the freezer, dust the top with cocoa powder and cut into triangles

Place 2 triangles on each plate, then finish decorating with the mini meringues, a few dots of the berry and passion fruit purées, a wedge of passion fruit, a physalis and a few fresh mint leaves. Scatter over some roughly chopped candied almonds if liked