"Chocolate Desserts" by Pierre Herme (Part 2)

[sanrensho]

325F for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

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Thanks Patrick! I find it interesting how dacquoise recipes seem to vary widely by baking time.

Edited March 16, 2006 by sanrensho (log)

[John DePaula]

325F for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

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I find it interesting how dacquoise recipes seem to vary widely by baking time.

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When I went to pastry school, we were given a syllabus of recipes on the first day. No baking times were listed, only temperatures. When we asked how long to bake something, the answer was always the same: until it's done!

The reason is that different ovens bake at different speeds. Maybe the oven is vented, or not; maybe it's a convection oven, or not.

The moral of the story is: baking times given in recipes are only suggestions and can vary, sometimes widely. Your experience with your oven may be the best guide.

[John DePaula]

John, your daquoise looks delicious!

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Thank you so much, Patrick. I've been admiring your beautiful photos for quite a long time!

[sanrensho]

The moral of the story is:  baking times given in recipes are only suggestions and can vary, sometimes widely.  Your experience with your oven may be the best guide.

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Thanks for your input, John. I definitely hear what you are saying. "When it's done, it's done."

[Patrick S]

FWIW, sarensho, I do seem to remember the dacquoise needing a little more than 30 minutes, but I can't remember exactly how long.

[sanrensho]

FWIW, sarensho, I do seem to remember the dacquoise needing a little more than 30 minutes, but I can't remember exactly how long.

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Thanks again!

-Kenji

[FoodMan]

FWIW, sarensho, I do seem to remember the dacquoise needing a little more than 30 minutes, but I can't remember exactly how long.

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Yes, I agree, the layers took more than the specified time. Actually about 15 minutes more in my oven when I made my dacquoise a few months ago. The same is true this week, when I baked coconut dacquoise for a "certain cake" from the book. Pictures of "this certain cake" and notes will follow once I actually serve it and taste it, I don't want to ruin the surprise .

John, the assembled dacquoise freezes and thaws wonderfully. I also love it most when refrigerated for a good 48 hours or so.

[NYC Mike]

After the first try with suspect/over firm results (the family still ate the entire batch!) what a difference a candy thermometer can make. For a newbie like me it is a welcome crutch! Looking back, I sure did overcook the first batch and near boiled the creme prior to adding it to the chocolate.

This time out it is indeed the best chocolate pudding I have ever had.

I think I need a camera upgrade.

Mike

[Ling]

I made the Black Forest cake (pics to come shortly) and it was INCREDIBLE! I thought I wasn't a fan of Black Forest but that's because I've never had a good one.

Changes:

-I increased the amount of kirsch in the cream to 3 tbsp. as recommended in this thread (I tasted the cream with 1 tbsp. of liqueur, then 2 tbsp., but 3 tbsp. did seem to be the best)

-apparently, Valrhona is very difficult to get in Vancouver right now (the stores only seem to be carrying white and milk, no more bittersweet!) so I used dark chocolate orange Cacao Barry and it was really good with the flavours in the cake. I don't normally enjoy citrus (or any sort of acidity) and chocolate together, but the orange flavour in this chocolate is not overwhelming.

-I used sour cherries that were packed in a "light syrup", and although I rinsed them, I added an extra squeeze of lemon juice and an extra strip of zest into the poaching liquid to bump up the acidity.

ETA: One more thing--I broke my cake leveller (the tool with the wire) trying to level the cocoa cakes when they were frozen. Usually, I level other cakes when frozen with this tool, but the cocoa cake is quite dense so I wouldn't recommend trying to split it with the tool unless you defrost the cakes first.

Edited March 21, 2006 by Ling (log)

[Ling]

I think I like the look of the cake without the whipped cream on the sides better.

inside shot

[Swisskaese]

Lorna that is gorgeous. I agree, though about the whipped cream. Maybe you should try lining a round ring with acetate and build the cake in the ring. The acetate will give you a smooth finish on the outside.

How did you design the top of the cake?

[Patrick S]

Looks great, Ling!

[filipe]

That's awesome Ling, I love the cocoa decoration. I agree about the whipped cream...

Has anyone tried the Concorde recently? I might be baking one of those tonight

[Ling]

Lorna that is gorgeous. I agree, though about the whipped cream. Maybe you should try lining a round ring with acetate and build the cake in the ring. The acetate will give you a smooth finish on the outside.

How did you design the top of the cake?

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I don't have any round cake rings. I used my 9" springform for this cake. I tried to curl the whipped cream a bit over the top edge of the cake the way it looks in the book.

The top of the cake--I just made quick stencils with thick paper, laid them on top of the cake, then dusted with cocoa powder. Takes only about a minute to decorate this way!

[oli]

excellent. I useto think when I first came on board, how can Ling eat all these desserts, day after day, not to mention all the time in the kitchen.

[FoodMan]

I made the Criollo a few days ago. Made the coconut dacquois layers and the little extra batter made awsome cookies. I did need to bake the layers about 15 extra minutes than the recipe states though. The next day I made the mousse, pretty damn good mousse too. I loved the taste of lemon zest and ginger in it. So, since I was planning on serving the cake a couple of days later, I made the filling and assembled it and froze it like the recipe suggests.

The night before the day of service, I placed the cake ring and all in the fridge to defrost. However, once ready to serve it the problems started. The layers were way too soft and had lost pretty mush all their crunch! It was a pain to remove in one piece from the ring and looked like a defalted souffle . Looked too bad to post any pictures of it. The taste was still pretty good but all the texture was lost, it was sort of like a chocolate mousse pudding with a mild coconut flavor. I am not sure where I went wrong, should I have made the layers thicker maybe? Or I'm guessing this one should be consumed the day it is made.

On another note, I really think a third disk of the cocnut dacquoise will be a very good addition, rather than just two.

Ling- That looks awsome! very good work.

[filipe]

I've done the crepes tonight

As I don't have any crepe-pan they're not perfectly shaped, but I like them this way better. They're a bit too thick as well...

I've assembled them with the chocolate-caramel ganache (the one form the Pavé), as a MilleCrepes

Very nice taste (used Valrhona cocoa), they end up being very light and not too sweet, even with the double-choc combination

[Patrick S]

I've done the crepes tonight

As I don't have any crepe-pan they're not perfectly shaped, but I like them this way better. They're a bit too thick as well...

I've assembled them with the chocolate-caramel ganache (the one form the Pavé), as a MilleCrepes

Very nice taste (used Valrhona cocoa), they end up being very light and not too sweet, even with the double-choc combination

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That looks and sounds really good. After reading the thread about Lady M's MilleCrepes, I've been wanting to try something like that.

Elie, sorry the Criollo went squishy on you. I've been waiting to hear how you liked it ever since you mentioned a few days ago that you made the coconut dacquoise. One thing I tried to keep the meringue layers in the Concorde from losing all their texture was coat them with a thin layer of ganache before assembling with the mousse. That helped a bit, though I still lost most of the crunch. If I ever try the Criollo I'll try that and see what happens.

[John DePaula]

Elie, sorry the Criollo went squishy on you. I've been waiting to hear how you liked it ever since you mentioned a few days ago that you made the coconut dacquoise. One thing I tried to keep the meringue layers in the Concorde from losing all their texture was coat them with a thin layer of ganache before assembling with the mousse. That helped a bit, though I still lost most of the crunch. If I ever try the Criollo I'll try that and see what happens.

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Just a thought, and this may be way off in left field, but what if you sprayed just the thinnest coat of dark chocolate onto the dacquoise (both sides) to form a sort of vapor barrier to protect the crunchiness? If you don't have access to (or want to bother with) a sprayer, you could use a pastry brush.

[John DePaula]

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Wow, those look so decadently delicious!

[filipe]

That looks and sounds really good. After reading the thread about Lady M's MilleCrepes, I've been wanting to try something like that.

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Thanks Patrick, thanks John.

About the MilleCrepes...

Why don't we start a thread about it? Something like "the quest for the best MilleCrepes"? I suggest a Chocolate MilleCrepes, which would give us a lot to work on.

[Ling]

^I haven't made crepes in years! I could definitely use the practice. I've been drooling over that Lady M Mille crepes picture as well. Count me in!

[SweetSide]

^I haven't made crepes in years! I could definitely use the practice. I've been drooling over that Lady M Mille crepes picture as well. Count me in! 

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Count me in too -- I've had this on mylist for the past week, and in fact was planning on doing the same as filipe before I even saw the post.

[SweetSide]

Elie, sorry the Criollo went squishy on you. I've been waiting to hear how you liked it ever since you mentioned a few days ago that you made the coconut dacquoise. One thing I tried to keep the meringue layers in the Concorde from losing all their texture was coat them with a thin layer of ganache before assembling with the mousse. That helped a bit, though I still lost most of the crunch. If I ever try the Criollo I'll try that and see what happens.

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Just a thought, and this may be way off in left field, but what if you sprayed just the thinnest coat of dark chocolate onto the dacquoise (both sides) to form a sort of vapor barrier to protect the crunchiness? If you don't have access to (or want to bother with) a sprayer, you could use a pastry brush.

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You're not off in left field. In school, we used melted chocolate (not tempered) spread thinly with a small offset spatula. By using non-tempered chocolate, the choclate won't set to a snap, so there will less change in texture.

[FoodMan]

Thanks for all the suggestions, it makes sense I guess. I never had this problem with the Concorde, probably becuase I assembled it and served it soon after. I think freezing (with no "barrier" to protect the disks) is not a good idea for mousse/meringue/dacquoise cakes. Buttercream on the other handles freezing much better with a dacquoise.