Chocolate dacquoise cake

I DEVISED this recipe for the first demonstration I ever gave when I worked at Ile de Pain in South Africa and I was promoting Swiss chocolate brand Felchlin.

The demo I was to give was in front of around 50 of the top chefs and pastry chefs in the country so, needless to say, I was a little nervous.

Although I was by this time an experienced pastry chef I had never had to demonstrate in front of so many people with such high expectations. I practised every day for a month and devised the recipe to showcase several different Felchlin products and various techniques.

Other than one minor mishap – the baking trays I used for the cake didn’t fit in the oven I was using for the demo – it was a success and this is now one of my go-to recipes for demos.

It makes an impressive individual “plated dessert” and also, left whole, makes a spectacular celebration cake. It is another recipe with a fairly long method but I guaranteed the results are well worth the effort.

Chocolate dacquoise cake
Chocolate (70 per cent) mousse
To begin with you will need to make a quantity of basic custard:
250g whipping cream
250g whole milk
100g egg yolks
50g caster sugar

Heat the milk, cream and half of the sugar in a pan over a medium heat. Beat the egg yolks and remaining sugar until light in colour and texture. Add half of the hot (not boiling) milk to the yolks, mix well then pour back into the pan with the remaining milk and continue to stir until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of your spoon (82°C if you have a thermometer). Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

For the mousse:
300g basic custard
325g chocolate (70 per cent)
450g whipping cream

Melt the chocolate to about 50°C. Mix the chocolate and hot custard to form a ganache using the emulsion method*. You need the resulting mixture to be at a temperature of 45-50°C. Once the ganache is smooth and shiny fold in the whipped cream making sure you don’t overwork the mixture and knock out all of the air.

Dacquoise
140g egg whites
45g caster sugar
110g icing sugar
110g ground almond (almond flour)

Slowly whip the egg whites with the caster sugar to firm peaks. The slower you whip the whites the better structure they develop and more stable they will be – Kitchenaid speed 3-4. Mix together the ground almond and icing sugar (blend in a food processor if you have one, make sure it stays dry though!).

Fold together meringue and the almond flour/icing sugar mixture.

Take the tray/tin you are going to use as the mould for your cake (I would suggest either a baking tray or a spring form cake tin) and line the base and sides with greaseproof paper. Spoon some of the meringue mix into the tray and gently spread it so that you have an even layer about 1cm thick. Bake for 10-12 mins @180°C. You want it to cook but not colour. Once cooked, remove from the tin and cool.

Crumb base
560g Digestive biscuits
250g milk chocolate

Simply break the biscuit into crumbs (in a blender is the quickest way), melt the chocolate and combine the two. Then before the chocolate cools and sets, spread the mix evenly onto the bottom of your tray/cake tin to form the base of the cake.

Chocolate glacage (glaze)
250g cream
100g water
135g caster sugar
50g glucose
500g 53 per cent chocolate

Bring the cream, sugar, water and glucose to a boil in a pan, stirring continuously. Melt the Chocolate to 50°C. Using the emulsion method* mix the cream/water mix into the chocolate. Blend with a stick blender until smooth being careful not to incorporate any air into the mix.

Assembly
Once you have your biscuit base and it has cooled place the meringue (dacquoise) layer on top of that. Over that pour the mousse. Place the whole thing in the fridge to set overnight. Once set remove it from its tin and glaze using warm (not hot) glaze and being sure to cover the whole cake. I would suggest you set it on a cooling rack to do this with a tray underneath as you can store and re-use any excess glaze.

*Emulsion method
I have given a more detailed explanation of the emulsion method in a previous article but in brief – you need to add the liquid to the chocolate in three stages. Ideally use a stick blender in a circular motion from the middle of the mixture. On the first addition the mix will split. On the second addition the mix should come back together and become beautifully silky and shiny. The final addition is just to add the remaining liquid.

Vanessa Wade, with her husband Tom, owns and runs The Vane Arms at Thorpe Thewles, County Durham.