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. In Romania, this cake can be found in specialty high-end bakeries and it is also served in restaurants as dessert. 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 (read about that here).
The recipe has few steps, but boy, it is so worth it! And I was so ready for the challenge! I recommend you use 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. The cake is made in a 8 inches pan and has a 6 inches insertion in the middle, made out of cake and strawberry compote with added pistachios. Beautiful inside with an element of surprise!
Isn’t that beautiful?
All the ingredients blend together so very well, the cake is light, not very sweet and beautiful inside and out. A perfect celebration cake for any occasion!
I hope you are going to be brave enough and try it and also enjoy it!
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)
My favorite tool in the kitchen and a life saver
Round parchment paper 8 inches
Edible gold flakes for decoration
Update: I made this cake again recently. This time I decorated it differently.
What do you think?
- Hazelnuts Dacquoise Cake:
- 3.5oz/100 g hazelnuts, grounded
- 1.4 oz/ 40 g all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4.2oz/120 g egg whites (aprox.3 eggs)
- juice from half lemon
- 2.8 oz/80 g sugar
- Strawberries compote and pistachio insertion
- 8.8oz/250 g strawberries
- 2 tablespoons/30 ml water
- juice from half lemon
- 3.5oz/100 g sugar
- 1 Tbsp corn starch
- 1.7 oz/50 g pistachios
- White Chocolate Mousse:
- 14.1oz/400 g white chocolate
- 4 sheets of gelatin
- 8.8fl.oz/260 ml whole milk
- 11.8fl.oz/350 ml heavy cream
- White Chocolate Glaze
- 11.2oz/320 g white chocolate
- 8.4fl.oz/250 ml heavy cream
- 1oz/30 g butter (82% fat) room temperature
- 2 sheets of gelatin
- Hazelnuts Dacquoise Cake
- Preheat the oven to 340F(170C).
- You will need 2 baking springforms of 8 and 6 inches. Line both pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mix the hazelnuts with flour and salt.
- With a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites on low to medium-low until foaming, taking about 1 minute. When the egg whites increased approximately 4 times in volume, add the sugar and the lemon juice.
- Increase the speed of the mixer 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 from underneath to the surface, carefully to not loose the air from the egg whites.
- Pour the mixture in both springforms and bake them in an 340F oven for 13-15 minutes. Shut off the oven and let the cakes dry out for another 5 minutes with the oven door closed.
- Take them out of the oven and let cool. Do not take them out of 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 cake that still sits in the springform pan.
- In a small pan, toast the pistachios until they develop the flavor, then add them to the strawberry compote.
- Place the springform pan in the freezer.
- White Chocolate Mousse
- Place the gelatin sheets in a pan with very cold water to cover them and let the gelatin sheets hydrate. The gelatin is hydrated and ready to use when it is very soft. Squize 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 very cold water to cover and let the gelatin sheets hydrate. The gelatin is hydrated and ready to use when it is very soft. Squize 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 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 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 spring form pan.
- Add about ⅓ of the white chocolate mousse over the cake.
- Remove the 6 inches pan from the freezer and take out 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.
- 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 few golden sprinkles.
- This cake needs refrigeration. After decoration, the cake has to stay in the fridge to defrost for 2 hours before serving it.
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