Dacquoise
A cake whose name comes from the town of Dax in south-west France. Its meringue contains ground nuts — and that changes everything. Fat from the nuts weakens the foam, so this meringue is not brittle and glassy like the usual kind but slightly chewy and moist inside. The second rule concerns assembly: dacquoise must rest two hours in the fridge, so the layers soften enough to cut without shattering.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Nut meringues 75 min
- Buttercream 30 min
- Assembly 20 min
- Chilling 120 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneDraw three circles on paper
Heat the oven to 140°C. Draw three 20 cm circles on two sheets of baking paper and turn the paper pencil side down. The circles matter: the meringues must be identical in diameter, or the assembled cake leans and cannot be stacked.
Ingredients: 6 pcs egg whites · 120 g caster sugar · 120 g ground almonds · 100 g hazelnuts · 120 g icing sugar · 1 tbsp cornflour · 1 pinch salt
Whip the foam and fold in the nuts
Whip the whites with the salt, adding the sugar a spoonful at a time, to stiff glossy peaks. Mix the ground nuts with the icing sugar and cornflour and fold in with a spatula in three additions, lifting from the bottom.
Ingredients: 6 pcs egg whites · 120 g caster sugar · 120 g ground almonds · 100 g hazelnuts · 120 g icing sugar · 1 tbsp cornflour · 1 pinch salt
Pipe spirals and bake low
Pipe the mixture in a spiral from the centre, filling the circles, and bake 75 minutes at 140°C. The meringues should be dry outside and slightly soft within — with nuts in them they do not dry out as hard as plain meringue. Cool on the trays and peel off the paper only once cold.
Ingredients: 6 pcs egg whites · 120 g caster sugar · 120 g ground almonds · 100 g hazelnuts · 120 g icing sugar · 1 tbsp cornflour · 1 pinch salt
A spiral from the centre — it fills the circle evenly.Make a syrup and cook the yolks
Boil the sugar with the water to 118°C (soft-ball stage), about 5 minutes, whisking the yolks meanwhile. Pour the hot syrup in a thin stream into the whisking yolks. The syrup cooks the yolks and builds a stable base that will take all 280 g of butter. It is not a guaranteed pasteurisation, though — for pregnant women, young children and the elderly use pasteurised eggs.
Ingredients: 4 pcs egg yolks · 150 g sugar · 50 ml water · 280 g butter · 2 tbsp coffee · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Add the butter to the cooled base
Whisk the mixture until it cools to room temperature, about 15 minutes, and only then add the butter piece by piece. Butter added to a warm base melts and the cream turns liquid — it then has to be chilled and rewhipped.
Ingredients: 4 pcs egg yolks · 150 g sugar · 50 ml water · 280 g butter · 2 tbsp coffee · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Smooth and glossy — butter only into a cool base.Flavour the cream with coffee
Stir in the espresso and vanilla. Coffee is the classic partner for hazelnut, but praline paste or melted, cooled chocolate also work well here.
Ingredients: 4 pcs egg yolks · 150 g sugar · 50 ml water · 280 g butter · 2 tbsp coffee · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Stack three layers and coat the sides
Pipe the cream in a spiral onto two of the meringues, stack all three and coat the sides thinly. Pipe rather than spread with a spoon — the meringue is brittle and snaps under the pressure of a spatula.
Ingredients: 4 pcs egg yolks · 150 g sugar · 50 ml water · 280 g butter · 2 tbsp coffee · 1 tsp vanilla extract
Piped cream — a spatula would break the meringue.Press on almonds and chill two hours
Press toasted flaked almonds onto the sides and chill 2 hours. This is not just cooling: moisture from the cream softens the meringue enough for the cake to be cut. Sliced immediately it shatters. Dust the top with icing sugar before serving.
Ingredients: 80 g flaked almonds · 20 g icing sugar
Before you start
Dacquoise and succès
A very similar cake with almond meringue and praline buttercream is known in France as succès. The technique is the same.
Meringues a week ahead
Baked meringues keep a week in an airtight tin interleaved with paper. The buttercream can be made up to three days ahead and kept in the fridge — bring it back to room temperature and rewhip before use.
Serve at room temperature
Straight from the fridge the buttercream is hard and greasy on the palate. Take the cake out 40 minutes before serving — the butter softens and the cream regains the velvet it is made for.
