Dacquoise in large format cakes

[jeniyo]

Hi all,

I am planning on making a wedding cake in a month or so and I wanted to incorporate a layer of almond dacquoise to add some crunch. This will be a moist yellow buttermilk cake with mango curd folded in a mascarpone cream filing. I want to add a disc at the bottom of the cake but is worried about the dacquoise getting soggy, fall apart, and crushed/flattened from the weight of cakes.

so my question is, should i even bother? or do you think i'll have more luck dressing up the cake with crushed meringue instead? would it help to melt a thin layer of white chocolate on the dacquoise (then cake sandwiched with filing)? or is buttercream enough to seal some moisture from the cake?

Also, i'm making a chocolate layer with the infamous Julia Child's chocolate mousse. I am omitting the alcohol in lieu with half vol of espresso. I hope to have a stiffer mousse to prevent slippage or oozing. does anyone have any tips to build a sturdier mousse? less whites, less liquid? less butter? help!

hem.. thank you..

[jsaimd]

Dacquoise will get soft if allowed to sit. It makes a lovely layer, but won't be completely crunchy made ahead. Buttercream will soften it - you can test the texture by making a smaller cake and putting buttercream on both sides and allowing it to sit for 24 hours. White chocolate will seal it if you want.

Another option which I tend to prefer is feulletiene in pure white chocolate, which will stay crispy. It can be sprinkled between layers.

[jeniyo]

can you explain the feulletiene? I guess i had it before but never thought i can put it in my desserts!

do i order the flakes and mix in choc myself?

[jsaimd]

Yes. My favorite preparation is to mix it with praline (carmelized nut paste), melted chocolate and flakes (I use corn flakes or crispy rice to be gluten free, but the feulletiene are better tasting and more neutral http://www.lepicerie.com/catalog/prod.... You can make it, but it is easier to buy it. You can also use chocolate pearls, which might be a bit easier to find, but not in white chocolate. If you want, try the rice crispies and see if the flavor works for you. The key is that the coating needs to be free of moisture (pure chocolate and praline or just pure chocolate). You mix tempered chocolate to coat thoroughly, spread on a tray to dry, and then you can either cut a disc, or just put crumbles in between. If you cut a disk - you need to have a thin layer.

[jeniyo]

thank you! this sounds like a better idea. Is the praline you are referring to ground up praline from a food processor from caramelized sugar and nuts? or is this something finer, like gianduia?

[jsaimd]

Yes you can make your own or buy praline paste. The former tends to be coarser.

[jeniyo]

Thanks! This is a great tip. I must try this out.

[jeniyo]

sorry to bug you again, but to re-illiterate, i mix the ground up praline, the flakes in melted chocoalte and spread this mixture on silpat very finely and break into small/fine shards to sprinkle in the cake right?

[jsaimd]

Yes, by weight I think about 1 part praline to 2 parts feuilletine and 3 parts chocolate. Melt chocolate, then mix in praline. When smooth mix in the feuilletine. The spread very thinly. If it is thin enough to be brittle, you can cut a disk before it fully sets, the cool it, before removing it from the silpat. If it is too thick and the chocolate stays in temper then it can be harder to cut through. Or you can break it up and sprinkle. I usually use a disk, but I usually do a individual cakes.

[chowser]

I make a chocolate hazelnut souffle cake from Bon Appetit (not on the epicurious site) that has a bottom layer of almond meringue, essentially a single layer dacquoise. If assembled a day in advance, the layer softens somewhat, close to the cake but makes it easy to cut and the lower part retains the crunchiness. I've never assembled it more than a day in advanced. I think a thin coat of white chocolate would protect it more, too. Buttercream on the dacquoise would soak into it and soften it. I also wonder if you could brush egg white gently over the meringue layer before baking it to help.

For the mousse part, you could do multiple concentric frosting dams to prevent the oozing. For a smaller cake, an outside layer is enough but if you're doing 10"+, I'd consider doing more inside. This sounds like a cake that needs to be refrigerated until serving, or almost until serving.

[Caitlin McGrath]

I think refrigerating the assembled cake would also be likely to soften a dacquoise layer.

[chowser]

I was talking about the chocolate mousse cake (because room temp mousse would be softer), not the dacquoise one. But, that's a good question about the one with the mango curd at room temperature for long, too.

[jeniyo]

I saw somewhere that I can set my mousse as well as any creams (in this case mango curd and mascarpone) in gelatin. I am not sure how much gelatin per liquid though.

do you know the amount and if i should stir in the gelatin during prep of the filing or at the end (before fridge cooling)?

[chowser]

I've set whipped cream frostings with gelatin. While it works to keep its shape, I don't like the gummy texture it adds. This was helpful for me:

http://www.baking911.com/howto/gelati...

But, I do like panna cotta which is along the lines of making (whipped cream) mousse w/ gelatin. I've used panna cotta filling in cake, but it also needs to be chilled. I've only used softer fillings with regular sized cakes, not larger ones, but with a strong dam, it's worked.

[jsaimd]

Yes it is common to use gelatin in setting up mousse for cakes. How comfortable are you with baking and improvising? If you are comfortable with the basic techniques but need proportions, valrhona has a professional baking guide on their site. However, instructions are sparse and would be meaningless if you don't know what you are doing.

However, ranges in the chocolate mousse vary and it depends on how much chocolate you add into the mousse. You can set it with as much as 1-2 T per cup of liquid for a very stiff cream, or even less. With chocolate mousse you use less, because the chocolate will stabilize it too. You can also set mousse with agar agar if you need it to be vegetarian.

For whipped cream to stabilize it (not set it) I use the 1/2 t per cup of cream.

Your curd shouldn't need to be set.

To mix in gelatin, you bloom it, dissolve it in a small amount of liquid, then mix it with your liquid ingredients prior to folding in cream usually.

Of course an easy filling is a whipped chocolate ganache which is mousselike anyway. You should really check out the Cake Bible for guidance on fillings...