Dacquoise with Cream and Berries #TheCakeSliceBakers

I am finally, finally jumping in to The Cake Slice Bakers events five months in to 2022. This year, the group is baking through Zoë Bakes Cakes: Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Favorite Layers, Bundts, Loaves, and More by Zoë Francois. I haven't participated at all this year; I bought the book in late 2021, tested a few recipes for the holidays, and promptly misplaced the book. For. More. Than. Four. Months.

So, it was serendipitous that I found my book just in time for the May edition of #TheCakeSliceBakers! I looked at the three recipes that were chosen and knew exactly which one I wanted to serve for my forty-ninth birthday party.

Are you the kind of person who likes to be spoiled on your birthday? Or are you, like me, the kind of person who bakes her own cake?!!? 

Before I get down to the recipe, I'll recap what the group is all about since I haven't posted with them for all of 2022.

In this group, we are given a selection of three cake recipes. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book. Our choices for May 2022 were ~ 

Lemon Curd Pound Cake

• All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• My Recipe Reviews
• Karen's Kitchen Stories

Dacquoise with Cream and Berries

• A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Red Velvet Cake

• Camille Cooks

Happy Birthday to Me!

This was the first birthday I have celebrated without all three of my guys with me in almost two decades. R is at school in Santa Cruz. So, D called R and we did a video chat while they sang to me. It was not a bad way to ring in the last of my forties.

I only wish I could have hugged all of them that evening. D hugged me extra tight for his brother. And I did get a little misty-eyed knowing that next year they will both be off at school. Oye. R lamented, "So, I can sing to you...but you can't send me a slice of cake through the phone. Boo!" So true.

This time next year we'll be empty-nesters eating double servings of cake. Ha. Maybe I will just have to start making smaller cakes. For now this was perfect...

Dacquoise with Cream and Berries 

I was first introduced to dacquoise when I worked in a café in Charlottesville, Virginia for a few months after I moved back from Italy. The head baker was from California, too, and so we spent a lot of time chatting in the kitchen. Even though it was one of my favorite of her cakes, I never attempted to make one myself...until now. I'm grateful that this was a choice this month because it was just as amazing as I remember it. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup egg whites, from approximately 6 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup almond flour 
• 1 cup organic powdered sugar 
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup lemon curd (such as this one)
• 1 cup each blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and sliced strawberries
• Also needed: baking sheet, parchment paper with three 9-inch diameter circles traced on them

Procedure

Preheat oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit. Invert parchment paper so that the pen marks face down but you can still see them through the paper. Set aside.

Create a French meringue by beating egg whites and cream of tartar until they begin to foam. Add in the sugar 1/4 cup at a time until soft peaks form. Once all of the sugar is incorporated, beat until stiff glossy peaks form.

Fold the almond flour and sliced almonds into the meringue and spoon into the circles.

Place in the oven and bake until dried and golden, approximately 90 minutes. Then turn off the oven and let it stand in a cooling oven for 2 hours.

To Assemble

Beat the whipping cream and set aside. I like my whipping cream unsweetened, but feel free to add in sugar or a splash of vanilla for sweetness.

Place one dacquoise disk on a serving platter or cake stand. Spoon 1/3 cup lemon curd over the disk and gently spread to over the disk, taking care not to crack the meringue. Scoop 1/3 of the whipped cream on top of that, spreading close to the edge. Dot the whipped cream with 1/3 cup each of the berries. Place the second dacquoise and repeat until all of the curd, whipped cream, and berries are used up.

Refrigerate the cake for at about an hour before serving. That will help in cutting through the layers.

And since this was a party - my party - I served the dacquoise with some California bubbles and cordials of Homemade Limoncello, an Italian lemon liqueur.

That is a wrap for my offering to the  May 2022 Cake Slice Bakers group. We'll be back next month with three more cake creations to inspire you. Stay tuned.