Tuesday, June 23, 2009

TWD - Coconut Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise


This week’s TWD recipe is coconut roasted pineapple dacquoise and was chosen by Andrea of Andrea in the Kitchen. This is another of those recipes that I would probably not have tried but for being part of the TWD group and another recipe that I was more than pleasantly surprises with.

While I have made many pavlovas and meringues before I have never made a dacquoise. I am not sure of the precise definition of a dacquoise but I would guess that it is a layered meringue cake. This particular dacquoise was layers of coconut and almond meringue layered with whipped white chocolate ganache and grilled pineapple. To say it was delicious would not be doing it justice.



I halved the recipe and made a really big dacquoise, so the full recipe must be ginormous! I also had to make a few other adjustments on account of not reading the recipe through properly before I began (a common fault of mine). I made the meringue layers on Friday night and only when I went to bake them did I realise that they had to be baked for 3 hours. Now, I thought that was a really long time. When I normally make pav or meringues, I cook them for no more than an hour and a half at a slightly higher heat than Dories suggested and then turn the heat off and leave them in the oven overnight. That is what I did in this case and it worked perfectly. I baked the meringue layers at 120c for 1 ½ hours and then switched the oven off and left them in there overnight. They turned out perfectly.



Layers of white chocolate ganache seemed just a bit rich for me, so I filled my layers with whipped cream, using the white chocolate ganache only on the top. I also didn’t have quite enough cream to be able to put it on the sides to stick the shredded coconut to, so I sprinkled the coconut on the top layer. We ate the dacquoise on Saturday night. My little sister came to visit – she had a 5 hour stopover before flying out to KL for a conference and we had the dacquoise for pudding. It was so delicious, but the three of us probably only ate about a 1/3 of it. I ended up throwing the rest of it out, which was a waste, but by the next day it had really softened, so I didn’t feel like I could even take it into the neighbours. It was so good though. I actually think it would be wonderful with raspberries rather than the pineapple.

See if the other TWDers loved it as much as I did here

12 comments:

Leslie said...

This one was a pleasant surprise. It looks wonderful with the coconut on the top!

Cakelaw said...

Your dacquoise looks great! I took mine to work the next day, and it was a little soft, but I threw caution to the wind on account of the 8 egg whites and 400g of chocolate - people ate it anyway. Hooray!

Unknown said...

Oh gosh your dacquoise looks fantastic! I was on the fence about making this one but think I've decided to give it a shot at the last minute. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad it was a success for you! I was really surprised how much I liked it.

Amanda said...

I didn't play along this week, there's no way I could have turned the oven on for that long with it almost 90 degrees outside. UGH

It looks so wonderful though and I will try this once the weather cools off again!

Anonymous said...

Great tip for leaving the meringue in the oven over night. I'll definitely try that next time!

Anonymous said...

I made a half batch, too, and it still made a LOT. Glad you liked this one!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

looks great! and good tip on meringue baking technique!

Di said...

That looks great, Tammy! I'm going to have to remember your baking instructions for the dacquoise when I finally get a chance to make some.

Anonymous said...

Your dacquoise looks really lovely! I love the picture of it sliced, your layers look wonderful!

Anonymous said...

I have to agree this was amazing and such a great treat before leaving for KL - and so much better than any of the desserts over here!!!

Unknown said...

I agree with anonymous - looks delicious!!