Recipe: Chocolate Dacquoise

Chocolate Dacquoise

Serves 6 or more

4 extra-large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
8 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate,
plus 4 tablespoons shaved chocolate

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

Separate eggs. Put egg whites into bowl of electric mixer. Add pinch of salt and slowly add sugar, beating well after the addition of each tablespoon. Beat until egg whites are stiff.

Melt 2 ounces chocolate in small saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate to egg whites and gently mix.

Line three 9-inch pie tins with parchment paper. Evenly divide chocolate mixture among pie tins, making a thin layer. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until layers are crisp. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a heavy medium saucepan melt 6 ounces chocolate with 2 tablespoons water until smooth. Keep warm.

Put egg yolks in top of a double boiler over simmering water. Add 2 tablespoons cool water and beat several minutes with a whisk to cook yolks slightly and to increase the volume. Working quickly, add whipped yolks to melted chocolate using a flexible rubber spatula. Fold gently.

"Ice" meringue layers with this chocolate filling. Carefully remove meringue layers as you proceed. Start by placing a meringue base on a cake plate; top with 1/3 filling; another meringue layer, 1/3 filling; meringue layer, and finish with the final 1/3 filling smoothed with flexible metal spatula. Let cool.

Scatter shaved chocolate on top as a garnish. Cut into wedges with a serrated knife.

From:
Recipes 1-2-3 Menu Cookbook:
Morning, Noon, and Night
By Rozanne Gold
Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover, $25.00
320 pages plus 31 color photos
ISBN: 0-316-31485-4
Recipe Reprinted by permission.