Thursday 15 March 2012

White And Dark Chocolate Dacquoise

For The Meringue
100gm's Icing Sugar
I Tablespoon Cornflour
8 Egg Whites
1/4 Teaspoon Cream Of Tartar
225gm's Caster Sugar
Pinch of Salt
For The Buttercream
180gm's Milk Chocolate,Broken Into Small Pieces
200gm's White Chocolate,Broken Into Small Pieces
8 Egg Whites
170gm's Caster Sugar
450gm's Unsalted Butter,Cut Into Small Cubes
For The Ganache
200ml's Cream
30gm's Unsalted Butter
180gm's Milk Chocolate,Broken Into Pieces.

Method
Using a 9 inch cake circle or cake plate as a guide trace a circle on each of 3 sheets of baking paper cut to fit a baking tray with a pencil,turn each sheet of paper over so that the trace marks are down and place on the baking tray.
Preheat an oven to 130 celsius.
Sift the icing sugar and cornflour together in a bowl and set aside,now take the 8 egg whites ,the cream of tartar and the pinch of salt into the bowl of an electric mixer,whisk until stiff peaks form,about 1-2 minutes,gradually add the caster sugar and whisk on high for one additional minute,remove the bowl from the
mixer and use a spatula to gently fold in the sifted icing sugar and cornflour.
Now take 1/3 of the meringue and put it in a piping bag which has no nozzle ,Fill one of the traced circles with meringue,start in the centre and pipe a 1/2 inch wide spiral toward the outside of the circle,now repeat this with the other two circles so that each of the 3 circles has 1/3 of the meringue mix,place the meringues in a preheated oven and bake 1 hour,then lower the temperature to 100 celsius and bake an additional 2 hours.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool 30 minutes before attempting to handle.Set Aside.
Now prepare the buttercream icing-Put 1 inch of water in  the bottom half of a double boiler on a medium heat,place the milk chocolate in the top half and cover tightly with cling film and leave 8-10 minutes till melted,remove from the heat and whisk then transfer to a bowl and set aside,repeat this procedure with the white chocolate,set both the milk and white chocolate mixtures aside ,now take the butter and place in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low with a paddle for 1 minute,scrape down the paddle and the sides of the bowl,then beat on medium 2 minutes and again scrape the sides and paddle then beat on high for 4 minutes till light and creamy,evenly divide the butter between the two bowls of chocolate and use a spatula to thoroughly fold the butter into the two types of chocolate and again set aside.
Take 8 egg whites and put in the clean bowl of an electric mixer and whisk on high for 1 1/2 minutes till stiff peaks form,gradually add the 6 ounces caster sugar  and whisk on high a further 1 1/2 minutes,remove the bowl from the mixer and use a spatula to fold half the amount of this meringue into each bowl of chocolate,whisk till well combined,reserve 500ml of both the milk and the white icing and set aside,now take the remaining icing and place in piping bags with no nozzles fitted and set aside at room temperature till needed.
To make the ganache heat the double cream and 1 ounce of butter in a saucepan over medium heat ,bring to the boil then place 6 ounces of milk chocolate in a bowl and pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand 5 minutes,stir till smooth and hold at room temperature till required.
Now assemble to dacquoise,gently take a meringue circle and place it on a cake platter,now take the piping bag of milk chocolate icing and pipe a circle round the outside edge of the meringue,about 1/2 inch wide.
take the white icing and pipe a circle of that inside the milk icing and repeat making alternating rings of icing
until the surface of the meringue is covered,gently place the next meringue on top of the first and press down gently and then repeat the procedure of piping alternate white and milk icing rings,when covered take the third meringue and place it gently on top of the icing and press down ,now using a spatula take the reserved milk icing and spread half of it over the sides of the dacquoise then refrigerate for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes place the dacquoise on a baking tray and pour the ganache over the top and use a spatula to evenly cover the top and sides of the dacquoise and refrigerate a further 30 minutes.
Now take a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and fill it with the remaining half of the reserved milk icing then fill another piping bag with the reserved white icing,now pipe a circle of white chocolate stars along the outside edge of the top of the dacquoise then repeat using the milk chocolate icing and finally repeat the procedure using the white icing.
Place the dacquoise in the refrigerator and chill at least 4 hours,if 4 hours are not sufficient to chill it properly place it in the freezer for 30 minutes,to serve use a serrated edge knife and run the knife under hot water before cutting each slice allow to come to room temperature before service,serve with either raspberry or passionfruit coulis.

No comments:

Post a Comment