Dacquoise goes trashy

[greygarious]

I was looking through Gesine Bullock-Prado's "Sugarbaby" and noticed an elaborate birthday cake that used rice krispy treats as a layer. Of course, hers weren't "trashy", since she made the marshmallow mixture from scratch and added homemade caramel sauce to it. I'd be more inclined to just use the standard RKT recipe. But I really like the idea of pressing the RKT into one or more thin layers to alternate with genoise or other regular baked layers, with frosting or other filling between them. A lot easier way to add textural interest to layered cakes than making dacquoise or baked meringue layers.

Can't wait for her next book, Pie It Forward.

[buttertart]

I love dacquoise of whatever stripe, and like putting japonais layers in cakes for contrast.
I want this RKT thing badly. It sounds brilliant. After all, some of the best chocolates in the world use crisped rice as a component. Must get Sugarbaby.

[Hank Hanover]

A rice krispy treat layer sounds more interesting than a meringue layer. At least it would be chewy not crunchy like a meringue.

I assume it is done for textural interest but I can't get excited about dacquoise. I'd rather add nuts or something.

I do like the sound of the one with caramel sauce added. The original RKT has never been very appealing to me but if you replaced those rice krispies with almonds or something, that would be good.

[lilgi]

I think we have the same taste buds, totally agree on dacquoise. I don't know if the RKT would add any kind of texture, they'd be soggy I think.

[magiesmom]

meringue in dacquoise is not crunchy in my experience, it is chewy/ crispy if made the day before.

[maxie]

Yes, it bakes up dry and crisp, but becomes chewy absorbing some of the moisture of the filling during its requisite rest. I think the standard RKT would lose all texture if the cake were to rest, but gotta say, I love messing around with RKTs. I guess that makes me trashy.

[greygarious]

I tend to doubt that the RKT loses much texture - why would the author feature it in a birthday cake if it is soggy once the cake is complete? In this particular recipe, she started with a layer of cake, then a ganache coating followed by the RKT layer. Another cake layer goes atop the RKT without anything between cake and RKT. Then a repeat ganache, RKT, cake layer, making 5 layers, the exterior then frosted with buttercream.
This was for the middle tier of a 3-tier cake, so we are talking a good bit of time to create and decorate.

I don't bake that elaborately, but would definitely consider baking a two-layer cake and adding a RKT layer between them. I'm thinking lemon-coconut.

[maxie]

You have a point. It wouldn't be in the book without some level of success. The mixed texture of RKT and cake does not sound appealing, but I'm thinking of RKT as having an elastic/ stretchy quality, which they don't have to have. Let us know how it turns out. The cookbook sounds interesting --I'm going to check it out.

[maxie]

Okay, greygarious Now you have me in the hot tub thinking about what kind if RKT go with coconut lemon cake. Sub coconut oil and melt with lemon zest? Candied lemon and coconut add in? Toasted Macadamia nuts? So many options....

[lilgi]

You're right, I'd forgotten how chewy RKT's are and there isn't anything moist between the layers. I'd love to know how this turns out for you.

[Hank Hanover]

Well, I think I will stick to a more traditional filler like a curd or ganache or even more frosting. I really don't want or expect a crunch in a cake.