Dacquoise

[FoodMan]

Let’s see if anyone can figure this one out. A long time ago (12-13 yrs maybe) a friend came to visit us in our apartment in Beirut. With him he brought a “cake” that he bought from a very well know French patisserie in Beirut (so this is NOT a Middle Eastern dessert), whose name I do not remember. The reason I say “cake” is because it was and still is like no other cake I’ve had. It looked like one with three layers but the texture and taste were not familiar. To explain further, the cake layers were not sponge cake or Genoise (sp?) but they were strongly chocolate flavored with a chewy texture. The filling was some kind of thick chocolate crème patissiere but that is not important. What I want to know is what the hell was that? Every so often I crave it and I did several online searches and could not figure it out. As far as I could deduce the layers might be some kind of chewy chocolate meringue.

The taste was very chocolaty, rich and luxurious with chewy layers and thick crème filling. So much so that I was the only one who liked it and ate it all in a few days time, and as mentioned, I still crave it.

Does that “cake” sound familiar to anyone? Or maybe it was that places specialty? Suggestions/recipes would be appreciated.

Elie

[NVNVGirl]

Not a flourless cake? They're more dense and chewy.

[RMR]

....As far as I could deduce the layers might be some kind of chewy chocolate meringue...

Was it similar to a dacquoise?

[Samaki]

Some sort of Dacqoise is what I'm thinking too. Those chewy layers were most likely chocolate meringue. When you sandwich it with butercream it goes nice and soft like that.

[FoodMan]

dacquoise??

I've never heard of it, I will look into this. Thanks for the help.

Elie

[FoodMan]

Well I did my homework on the Dacquoise and I truly believe that this is it!!! Here are the three links that I will pick between or use a combination of the three. The Saveur one seems like the best one and I can use chocolate buttercream instead of the coffee one and maybe add 1/4 cup cocao to the meringue. I am looking forward to trying this out. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

From Leite's Culinaria

Epicurios Master Cook, see the second recipe for chocolate Dacquoise

From Saveur They have a very scrumptiose looking picture that looks almost exactly like the one I remembered. They also have a very interesting tidbit about the cake.

Elie

[kitwilliams]

Now that you mention it, I'm looking for a recipe too. At a friend's engagement party, I recall having an amazingly light spongecake which was soaked with sherry. Probably a sherry-infused sugar syrup? It was unbelievable. I had four pieces. And I've been looking for a recipe ever since but have come across nothing like it. It was simple lusciousness.

Anyone else recall something of the sort and, if so, want to share a recipe?

By the way, this was catered in LA. So any LA caterers who read this, 'fess up!

Thanks!

[FoodMan]

Now that you mention it, I'm looking for a recipe too. At a friend's engagement party, I recall having an amazingly light spongecake which was soaked with sherry. Probably a sherry-infused sugar syrup? It was unbelievable. I had four pieces. And I've been looking for a recipe ever since but have come across nothing like it. It was simple lusciousness.

Anyone else recall something of the sort and, if so, want to share a recipe?

By the way, this was catered in LA. So any LA caterers who read this, 'fess up!

Thanks!

Babba or Savarin, maybe? both are yeast risen cakes that are usually soaked in rum and have a very light feel and taste amazing. The Babba Au Rum are usually baked in a mold. Then again I am no expert but look these two up, I know Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking has both of them as does Pepin's Complete Technique .

Elie

[ruthcooks]

When I made Dacquoise in my French cooking classes I used either coffee and rum or Grand Marnier and orange rind to flavor the buttercream, and almonds in the meringue. One of my cooking students is now a premier Asheville (NC) caterer and still uses this recipe. The buttercream is unusual in that it starts with cooking the egg yolks like custard and adds cold butter. If you (or anyone) would like this recipe, please PM me and I'll put it in RecipeGullet.

[kitwilliams]

I'm drooling just thinking about baba or savarin but that isn't what I'm looking for.

This was just a simple sheet cake, sponge, infused with a sort of sherry syrup. I've tried just making a sponge cake and soaking it but it wasn't the same. I'm sure it is an American concoction rather than European.

In the meantime, I'll have to settle for the buttery Gateau Breton that I just took out of the oven!

[David Leite]

FoodMan,

When I was a waiter at Windows on the World, we served a killer hazelnut daquoise. The recipe is in Nick Malgeiri's How to Bake. If you get a copy, I think you'll like the cake. It came pretty damn close to the original.

Best,

David

[Jaymes]

If you (or anyone) would like this recipe, please PM me and I'll put it in RecipeGullet.

I for one would very much appreciate it if you'd put it in the EG Recipe Archives....

And thanks!

[FoodMan]

I cannot believe that I actually found it, Dacquoise is most definitely the cake I remember eating such a long time ago. I did make the Saveur recipe with minor alterations (I used all almonds since I did not have Hazelnuts, I added Cocao powder to the meringue and buttercream). It was amazing, almost exactly like I remember, chewy crusty layers with soft creamy filling and a strong chocolaty taste from the ganache. Next time I would like to try the Hazelnut Dacquoise. I did take a couple of pics and I will post them when I get a chance. Thanks again for helping me with my query.

Elie

[Samaki]

Hurray! I'm so glad you found what you were looking for.

[FoodMan]

It's been almost two years since I posted this query and since then I have made this wonderful dessert a few times using different recipes. It's been my wife's favorite since the first time I made it and she asked for it for her b-day last year and this year (last week). I thought I might as well re-visit this thread and post my progress because the cake gets better everytime I make it. This time around I used a combination of recipes to make my Dacquoise. I used the Dacquoise recipe (for the layers) from P. Herme's Chocolate desserts book, I used the coffee buttercream recipe from the Nick Malgieri recipe from LeitesCulinaria.com and I added a nice layer of ganache based on a recipe I got from Saveur. This resulted in my best version of this cake...ever. It is absolutly outstanding and the birthday girl and her co-workers can attest to it. Too bad she forgot to take a picture of the cut cake to expose the layers. So all I have are those:

The unbaked Dacquoise. notice the extra cookies I piped with the leftover batter. Had me a nice snack with coffee.

Sorry, I have no pic of the cut cake .

[K8memphis]

Oh it's beautiful!!!

[Patrick S]

Sure is. Dacquoise and buttercream sounds like a winning combo. Was it hard to cut without squishing the buttercream out?

[RuthWells]

Yum yum yum! That looks smashing, FoodMan! If/when you make dacquoise again, a nice variation is to use mousse instead of buttercream between the meringue discs for a lighter flavor.

[FoodMan]

Sure is. Dacquoise and buttercream sounds like a winning combo. Was it hard to cut without squishing the buttercream out?

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Not really. I assembled it the night before and refrigerated the cake so the next day slicing it was not a problem. Eating it though....that was a little tricky.

[cdh]

Ahhhh.. Dacquoise. I've been singing its praises as the best dessert in the history of the world, anywhere, ever since I tried the version offered by Tartine in NYC many years back. I still go out of my way to stop by Tartine for the Dacquiose when I'm back NYC. Seems an appropriate subject for my thousandth post here.

Tartine's version is heavily hazelnutty, and has a wee bit of saltiness in the ganache, and that really demonstrates the veracity of the old saying about chocolate loving salt. The contrasting textures keep this dessert interesting bite after bite. Since I've been playing with making french style macarons lately, it seems that making the merangue layers should be just a variation on that theme, so an attempt to make my own may be in the works, thanks to Foodman's inspirational photos.

[Becca Porter]

I was wondering if anyone has any recipes for this that they are loving right now. I am craving this and I'm going to make one this week.

Edited July 4, 2006 by Becca Porter (log)

[John DePaula]

I was wondering if anyone has any recipes for this that they are loving right now. I am craving this and I'm going to make one this week.

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Ruth posted one in Recipe Gullet: Gateaux Dacquoise

I also LOVE the one in Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme.

[prasantrin]

There's a Filipino dessert called Sans Rival, which is similar to dacquoise. It uses thin layers of cashew meringue, interspersed with thin layers of cashew buttercream, ending with a layer of buttercream with toasted cashews sprinkled on top. It's one of my favourite Filipino desserts. The recipe about two-thirds down this Filipino Dessert website is pretty much the standard recipe.

You can also make it with thicker meringue layers (less time-consuming to make that way), but it's better if the layers are thin.

[Pam R]

Here's a link to our recipe. One of my favorite desserts.

[kitwilliams]

Lemon dacquoise is fabulous this time of year. It kind of fakes you out as the lemon flavor makes you feel as if you're not TRULY eating all that buttercream!

Depending on what I have, I use either hazelnut or almond (or sometimes a mixture of the two) dacquoise. Lemon buttercream between and on top and a layer of straight lemon curd on top of the top layer of buttercream. Press sliced and toasted almonds or chopped toasted hazelnuts all 'round.