This cake took time, effort, some skills and it wasn’t cheap. While I was making it, dividing the work into 2 days, I was thinking about how much I love doing it, how great it feels to take some eggs, butter, nuts, sugar, chocolate etc and turn it into something that delicious. I couldn’t help thinking about hurtful it was, when 2 months ago one of my best friends came to the conclusion, that she needs a break from me, as we have completely different passions and interests. We always have , but suddenly it became a problem and I hate that. But, while stirring my ganache I was thinking- screw that, I feel strong about what I love doing and if someone, even a close someone has a problem with that, that is her freaking problem, not mine.  The blog will remain about food as it has always been, not about reinventing myself, just to please someone.

I first heard about dacquoise on GBBO, but never attempted it until I saw the recipe in mojewypieki.com. Dorota makes it look doable, maybe not easy, but possible. So I started with a nutty meringue, made of 4 egg whites, a tall glass of mixed almonds and hazelnuts, toasted first, then whizzed smooth with 1 tbsp of potato starch. Egg whites got whipped with roughly a glass of caster sugar and a pinch of salt, nuts added, then onto a large, rectangular baking tray, oven only 130 degrees hot, for 1,5 hour. After that time it remained in the oven for another 1,5 hour to dry.

That same day I also prepared the base for the coffee cream- 4 egg yolks lightly whipped with 1/3 glass of sugar, 1 tsp of corn starch, then 3/4 glass of milk was heated up well and slowly added to the eggs, all returned to the heat and stirred till thickened. Then covered with cling film and left till next day in the fridge.

Next day I started with my ganache; 180 g of mixed dark and milk chocolate, covered with 3/4 glass of double cream, which was heated up with a splash of maple syrup. After a minute or 2 it just took a good stir and there was a lovely, shiny ganache.

The coffee buttercream caused me some trouble. I suspect it was the butter(190 g of it, less than recommended) that was maybe too cold in comparison with the egg mixture, but it split pretty badly in the kitchen aid and made me curse and call it names, none of those helped. Google did, so I increased the speed, as instructed and added some ganache, alongside 2 tbsps of hazelnut vodka and 2 tbsps of dry, instant coffee, mixed. It took some time to make the texture acceptable, it wasn’t exactly perfect, but it tasted great.

And then I could start putting it all together. Dorota has a short film included, which makes the assembling of the cake easy. First the meringue is trimmed on the edges, then divided in 4 equal rectangles. 3 are covered with ganache and left to cool for about 15 minutes, the fourth one gets covered by buttercream. The fourth one is then covered by the ganache side number 1, cream on that and repeat again. What emerged then needs a nice, smooth cover of buttercream all over it, chills in the fridge for about 2 hours. Finally- ganache all over, whole hazelnuts on top, flaked almonds on the side- Izzie helped doing that and we both loved it.

What I like about dacquoise is the texture and -in a Masterchefy language- the balance of flavours. It’s got it all- nuts, coffee, chocolate.  And I’m very pleased to be capable of making it. 🙂

Link to the original:

Torcik czekoladowo – kawowy dacquoise

In the mood for pistachios and having some fantastic Conference pears from Hayles fruit farm ( autumn was warm and dry this year, the apples and pears are fabulous ), I searched for a recipe that would accomodate both. I found one in GF, but adjusted it the way I thought would be best. It is, the next day even better!

For my small square tin I used 140 g of unsalted, roasted pistachios, shelled, 100 g of which I whizzed with 60 g of milk chocolate and 50 g of caster sugar. In KA bowl I had 100 g of self raising flour waiting, another 50 g of sugar, 100 g of soft butter. I added the whizzed ingredients and combined with 2 beaten eggs and a splash of milk.  Scraped it into the lined tin, added a few chunky pieces of pears and baked in 190 degrees for about 22-25 minutes, cooled.

Finished with a simple milk chocolate and cream glaze and the remaining 40 g of pistachios, roughly chopped and sprinkled on top. Excellent with a cup of tea on a Thursday morning, when the house is lovely, clean and quiet( toddler in the playgroup). Bliss. 🙂

If I ever publish a cookbook( loud laughter), I might include this bread in it. Mainly due to the fact, that I haven’t copied a recipe here, I just thought this morning- something with pesto would be nice, as pizza went down so well even with Izzie.  So I used 300 g of mixed seed posh flour, which was expensive to buy, but I still got it, as there is so much more to learn in my relationship with bread baking. Crumbled in some fresh yeast, didn’t measure it, just a bit more than for our regular pizza. A splash of olive oil, a pinch of salt( it needs more!) and warm water, added slowly while KA worked the dough- I wanted it quite runny, but not too runny.  It proved in the oven still slightly warm after lemon macaroons till more than doubled in size. Then I knocked it down, rolled out, spread out some pesto on it, quite generously and rolled tightly for the second proving. After about 20 minutes of it I baked it in 200 degrees for about 35 minutes, then switched off the heat and kept it in for another 10.

Ok, it wouldn’t win awards in competitions, but it does taste great with a chilled glass of wine, while it’s still warm. Salted butter is a must. Will be made again, maybe some salty serrano ham on the side or something.