White Chocolate Hazelnuts Dacquoise Cake is a recipe for hazelnut Dacquoise cake with white chocolate mousse, a strawberry compote, and pistachios, all covered in white chocolate glaze, decorated with berries and edible gold sprinkles.
Dacquoise Cake With White Chocolate Pistachios and Berries
I love entremets. They are elegant, always creamy, with layers that surprise the eye and the taste buds.
Very different from the regular layered cakes, entremets are considered in America to be high-end desserts. They are not necessarily complicated to make, but they do take some time and a little bit of experience to complete due to the multiple layers involved.
This cake looks and tastes fancy, but with a little bit of patience and skills, you can make a wonderful cake that everyone will love.
I made this cake the other day, a hazelnut Dacquoise cake with white chocolate mousse, a strawberry compote insertion with pistachios, all covered in a white chocolate glaze and decorated with fresh berries and edible gold sprinkles.
The cake is made in an 8-inches pan and has a 6-inch insertion in the middle, made out of cake and strawberry compote with added pistachios. Beautiful inside with an element of surprise!
The recipe belongs to Ana Consulea from Zexe Braserie Bucharest, who also advised me during the process of making this recipe for a Master Chef audition I participated in Minneapolis back in 2015.
The recipe has a few steps, but boy, it is so worth it! I was so ready for the challenge! I recommend using a kitchen scale that measures both ounces and grams for a better result.
Last night I cut the cake and had a piece of it with my husband.
Isn't that beautiful?
All the ingredients blend so very well; the cake is light, not very sweet, and beautiful inside and out. A perfect celebration cake for any occasion!
This cake is elegant, delicious and perfect for birthdays, anniversaries, summer gatherings and even holidays, like Christmas or New Year's Eve.
Note: For this recipe, among other ingredients and tools, I used:
White chocolate( I suggest using a good quality chocolate, not everything on the market tastes good, and if you want a decadent cake, the quality of this ingredient is essential)
Kitchen aid- My favorite tool in the kitchen and a lifesaver
Edible gold flakes for decoration
Update: I made this cake again recently. This time I decorated it differently.
What do you think?
More recipes to love:
Walnut Meringue Cake With Dark Chocolate Mousse
Chocolate Mousse and Praline Entremet
📖 Recipe
White Chocolate Hazelnuts Dacquoise Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz/100 g ground hazelnuts
- 1.4 oz/ 40 g all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4.2 oz/120 g egg whites aprox.3 eggs
- juice from half lemon
- 2.8 oz/80 g sugar
Strawberries compote and pistachio insertion:
- 8.8 oz/250 g strawberries
- 2 tablespoons/30 ml water
- juice from half lemon
- 3.5 oz/100 g sugar
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1.7 oz/50 g pistachios
White Chocolate Mousse:
- 14.1 oz/400 g white chocolate
- 4 sheets of gelatin
- 8.8 fl.oz/260 ml whole milk
- 11.8 fl.oz/350 ml heavy cream
White Chocolate Glaze
- 11.2 oz/320 g white chocolate
- 8.4 fl.oz/250 ml heavy cream
- 1 oz/30 g butter 82% fat room temperature
- 2 sheets of gelatin
Instructions
Hazelnuts Dacquoise Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 340F(170C).
- You will need two baking springforms. One should be 8 inches in size, and the other one should be 6 inches. Line both pans with parchment paper and set them aside.
- Mix the hazelnuts with flour and salt.
- In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on low to medium-low speed until foaming, taking about 1 minute. Keep beating until the egg whites increase approximately four times in volume. Add the sugar and the lemon juice.
- Increase the mixer's speed to high and continue beating the egg whites to a stiff peak stage.
- Stop the mixer and add the flour, salt, and hazelnuts with a spatula, mixing gently from underneath to the surface, carefully not losing the air from the egg whites.
- Pour the mixture into both springforms and bake them in a 340F oven for 13-15 minutes. Shut off the oven and let the cakes dry out for another 5 minutes with the door closed.
- Take them out of the oven and allow them to cool. Do not remove the dacquoise from the springform pans.
Strawberries compote and pistachio insertion:
- Strawberries, water, lemon juice, sugar, and corn starch go in a medium pot on the stove on medium heat.
- Simmer them until the mixture thickens and becomes silky.
- Let cool, then pour the compote over the 6 inches of cake still in the springform pan.
- In a small pan, toast the pistachios until they develop the flavor, and add them to the strawberry compote.
- Place the springform pan in the freezer.
White Chocolate Mousse:
- Place the gelatin sheets in a pan with icy water to cover them and let the gelatin sheets hydrate. The gelatin is hydrated and ready to use when it is very soft. Squeeze the gelatin in your hands to get rid of the water, then place it over the white chocolate.
- Meanwhile, bring the milk to a boil. Remove it from the stove and pour it over the gelatin and white chocolate.
- Let it sit for about 2 minutes, then gently mix it. Let the mixture cool.
- While the chocolate cools down, whip the heavy cream to a medium soft peak and fold it gently into the cool white chocolate mixture.
White Chocolate Mousse Glaze:
- Place the gelatin sheets in a pan with icy water to cover and let the gelatin sheets hydrate. The gelatin is hydrated and ready to use when it is very soft. Squeeze the gelatin in your hand to get rid of the water, then place it over the white chocolate.
- Bring the heavy cream to a boil and pour it over the chocolate and gelatin. Add the butter and mix slowly just on the bottom of the bowl, right in the center, in small circles. The idea is to obtain a smooth, shiny glaze that doesn't have air bubbles when poured on the cake. Let it cool, then glaze the cake with it.
How to ensemble the cake:
- Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the 8 inches cake. Place the cake back in the springform pan.
- Add about ⅓ of the white chocolate mousse over the cake.
- Remove the 6 inches pan from the freezer and remove the strawberry and cake insertion. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake.
- Place the 6 inches cake and strawberry insertion(which should be hard frozen) in the middle of the 8 inches cake over the chocolate mousse.
- Pour the rest of the white chocolate mousse over and level the surface with a spatula.
- Place the cake in the freezer for 24 hours.
- The next day, place the cake on a metal rack. Place a tray underneath the rack.
- Pour the glaze over the cake. Grab the cake from underneath with a wide spatula and place it on a serving platter. Refrigerate so the glaze hardens.
- Decorate it with fresh berries, white chocolate, and a few golden sprinkles.
- This cake needs refrigeration. After decoration, the cake must stay in the fridge to defrost for 2 hours before serving it.
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