Of course, on Mother's Day, mum gets to put in a special request for the type of cake I bake. She chose the cake that garners the most oohs and aahs and wows whenever I make it.

Which is only for special occasions, because:

1) You start it 3 days before the event

2) It's Massive. About 40cm across, 20cm high and feeds about 30 people, maybe more. I made it 2/3rds the size this time, and it still made 20 serves. (ETA: omg, duh! Maths was never my strong point…)

I call it the "Chocolate Hazelnut Meringue Explosion Cake". It's actually just called Chocolate Hazelnut Meringue but I added Explosion because that's what looks like happened when you cut it.

But maybe I should rename it the "Entire Weekend Cake".

Friday night:

Make the 3 meringue rounds. This cake is not possible without a KitchenAid. Or a Kenwood, if you lean that way. I don't think any other mixers even enter the equation.

I'm a KitchenAid devotee and this is my classic red rocket.

(On a sad side note: I may or may not have injured my lovely faithful mixer on Friday night. I store it with the whisk attached, and the dough hook and paddle beater just sitting in the bowl.

Do you think I checked to see if the power leaver was in Off position before plugging it into the wall? Mr K almost lost his hand reaching into the bowl to remove the hook and paddle when it accidentally came on.

The whisk was a rather sad, twisted piece of metal, like the wonky spokes on the bike you stacked as a kid

We managed to pull and push it back into a rather demented version of its original balloon shape, and it made a dreadful clanging noise in the bowl but still managed to produce a perfect meringue.

That's why I love you, KitchenAid

I'm trying not to think how much a new whisk costs, and praying that I haven't damaged the actual machine).

Anyway, look how glossy and gorgeous the meringue turned out.

You then bake it at 90 degrees overnight for 10 to 12 hours. You'll wake up to a lovely, sweet caramel-y smelling and toasty warm kitchen, and the meringue should be hard enough to knock on

Saturday:

Break/cut one meringue round into bits and pieces. Whisk a cow's worth of cream until stiff, add cocoa, choc bits and chopped hazelnuts and sandwich the other two rounds together and completely cover the whole cake.

Then the fun bit – poke the shards of meringue into the cream all over the cake until it looks like an anaemic porcupine, and drizzle the whole thing with melted dark chocolate.

Put it into the fridge to soften and meld flavours overnight.

Sunday:

Serve and bathe in the accolades.

It's actually very easy to make, it's just a lengthy process. But it looks like a work of art, albeit a slightly unhinged artist kind of art.

What 5 cups of sugar plus cream, chocolate and nuts looks like up close. Calorie count off the charts.

***

After a lovely yummy Turkish lunch celebrating the warm, loving and nurturing matriarchs in Mr K's extended family (with Mr K under strict instructions not to overeat… I'm sure such superhuman restraint has never before been observed at a Turkish feast), we celebrated my mum's and sister's motherhood with my family over dinner.

We were also lucky enough to have dad's sister visiting from Western Australia, and enjoyed a night of fabulous food, wine, an amaaaaazing cake and great company.

Happy Mothers day to all the mums mentioned above. We truly appreciate and love you all for the amazing pivotal role you play in our families.

Lots of love,

xx Kiki

You may also like: