Dacquoise Cherry Amande Gateau

Dacquoise Cherry Amande 

(My Oval Coffee Cherry Dacquoise Gateau) 

It has only been very recently that I finally got the courage to venture into foam cakes. You see what many of us non-professional bakers do not know until and unless we read about it is that there are two very distinct types of cake bases, the butter cakes which are richer , buttery and make perfect tea-time cakes and then there are the foam cakes which is light , airy and perfect to make layered cakes. They are a bit dry to be taken on their own. I am calling this my 'Oval Coffee cherry Dacquoise Gateau' Basically gateau is the french term for layered cakes and so next time you find that in a bakery you know what it is.

So I have also quite recently discovered the joys of making Cakes with almond flour , the taste and flavour is amazing and this one is surely a winner.

So I had some leftover ground almond after I made an Opera cake and so it was time for a Dacquoise Amande with the leftover coffee butter-cream icing and some chocolate sauce on top . I added a bit of homemade chocolate syrup and some glazed cherries for that extra deliciousness

Here goes the recipe

For the base : -

5 egg whites
A few drops of lemon.
150gm of ground almond (made from blanched and toasted almonds which was cooled down and ground)
150gm icing sugar

For the Coffee French Buttercream frosting please use the recipe for French Buttercream but simply cut down the recipe by half.

For the Chocolate swirl cover

125gm of dark chocolate
100gm coffee syrup made with bringing 100ml of brewed coffee to a boil and adding  50gm sugar to it.
2 tbsp unsalted butter

250gm glazed cherries de-seeded

Prepare by first greasing your pan and using butter paper on it and drawing a circle on it which is about the size of a round baking pan which can bake a pound of cake. Preheat oven to 180 C Then start off by whipping your egg whites to soft peaks with the few drops of lemon (the lemon juice prevents the egg whites from collapsing if over whipped) and then adding the sugar and whipping it to a stage where you can hold your bowl over your head and it stays put. Now fold in the ground almond and then spread half of on one baking tray and the other half on another baking tray. Bake for about 15 minutes for regular oven and 25 minutes for convection oven and let the two discs cool. While the cake base is being baked quickly chop the chocolates and then then place it on a bowl in which water is boiling with the butter and once it melts add the syrup and whisk to form a smooth dark chocolate sauce. Slowly but firmly separate the butter-paper. Now apply a thick layer of buttercream and sandwich the two discs. Put it in the refrigerator to set for sometime and then apply a generous amount of buttercream covering the cake from all sides. Pour a bit of the sauce from top and make swirls for decoration and then let it set for 5 minutes and decorate with glazed de-seeded cherries and let it chill for 5 hours before serving. This light fluffy cake with this amazingly rich icing and smooth chocolate was a perfect hit with my friends and family.