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The dacquoise is a dainty little cake layer that is sadly under used by home bakers. It is a light meringue that has nuts folded into it and baked in a thin layer. The dacquoise is crisp and used to add a sweet, nuttiness to your cakes. I love the contrast of a dacquoise with a soft sponge cake and a fruit mousse in the summer or with layers of rich chocolate in cooler weather.
This recipe comes from my 1992 edition of The Simple Art of Perfect Baking
Classic Dacquoise:
2/3 cups almond meal (1/3 cup whole almonds, finely ground) Skin on or off, you decide. I used almond meal that I found at Trader Joe’s with the skins on.
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 egg whites (about 5 large)
2/3 cups + 2 tablespoons sugar
Prepare parchment paper by drawing circles that match the size of the cake you are going to bake. I’ve done 3 9-inch circles.
Preheat the oven to 225°.
I used the cardboard round that would eventually be used under the cake as my template. You can also use the bottom of your cake pan.
Mix the almond meal and 1/4 cup sugar together in a small bowl and set aside.
Whip the egg whites on low speed in a mixer until they start to foam, about 45 seconds. Add the 2 tablespoons sugar to the whites and continue to whip on medium speed until soft peaks form. Once the whites form soft peaks slowly add the 2/3 cup sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks are formed and the sugar, about 2 minutes.
Add the almond meal in two batches, folding them in gently after each addition.
Fold in only until almond meal is well distributed.
Place the dacquoise in to a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe in a large spiral until you have filled in the circles drawn on the parchment. it should be about an 1/8″ thick.
Bake the dacquoise at 225° until dry, about 65-85 minutes.
Unlike Flo I like my dacquoise to have a bit of color, so I turned up the oven to 350 for the last 10 minutes and toasted the dacquoise. It gives it a slightly richer flavor. Be careful not to go to far or it will burn.
Thanks for stopping by. I'm Zoe Francois, pastry chef and cook book author. This is where I play with sugar and take the mystery out of baking everything from cookies to wedding cakes. 
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I absolutely love daquoise! Your looks so great, it made me crave a cake with almond daquoise and raspberry mousse I used to have a lot!
so cool! I need to experiment more with cakes. I’ve only made a daquoise once, so I need to practice with it definitely.
Yes, do make the dacquoise, it is so easy and adds so much to the flavor and texture of your cake.
Thanks! Zoë
Oh, I’ve done one of these, on my wedding cake! It was fun.
Hi Miss T,
You made your own wedding cake? You are my hero. It was all I could do to get my dress on and show up on time!
Zoë
Thanks, Zoe! Yes, crazy, but I really wanted to do it. The cake was complicated enough that it took a week to make–I spent an entire day just on marzipan fruit! So glad I did it, though, and the photos of me with buttercream up and down my arms are priceless.
)
Miss T,
I think marzipan fruit is just the thing you need to keep your mind at peace right before your wedding day!
Good for you. I hope you didn’t have to then deliver it to the wedding site. That is always the worst part for me!
Zoë
Hee, we packed it up (unassembled) and drove it all the way to Duluth!
Miss T you are super human!
Zoë
Thank You so much for this great recipe. I have been looking all over for one. I used to work in a French bakery & the baker who made this went back to France & it was never made again. He used to make it as a cake on its own. He put either vanilla or chocolate buttercream between the 2 layers of cake.
Karin
Zoe,
This is very close to what I’ve been looking for! When I lived in England, my wife and I used to go to a pub that served a dacquoise for dessert. It was an almond dacquoise with an espresso buttercream filling with sliced bananas between the layers. I’ve been trying to find a recipe for that dessert for years. Do you have any suggestions on the filling recipe?
Thanks,
Rick
Hi Rick,
That sounds so great! Here is a recipe for mocha buttercream http://zoebakes.com/?p=573 it would be lovely with the bananas.
Enjoy, Zoë
I am doing my homework on a cake that I made a few times at a bakery I worked at years ago. I’m planning my wedding and I’m in search of a tiered cake with almond dacquoise, and possibly a chambord or grand marnier buttercream icing. I believe that she may have used a raspberry filling as well. Could you possibly give me some pointers?
Hi, Zoe – My daughter just sent me this recipe which we both realize we have tasted in our favorite elegant restaurant; we just didn’t know its name!
And we want to bake it but we need clarification of the amount of egg whites. The recipe simply says, “2/3 egg whites – about 5.” Do you mean 2/3 Cup of egg whites?
We especially love the recipe because we have a friend who can’t tolerate gluten and another who is lactose-intolerant so this will be perfect for both of them.
Thank you very much for your help.
Sincerely,
Linda Polsby
Hi Zoe,
I was considering making miniature versions of your dacquoise for individual servings, layered with cream and fresh berries. Would you be able to point me in the right direction for baking times…
As always, your blog always uplifts when things get dreary!
Best regards,
Hi Wales,
You can bake it for about the same time as the larger one, maybe start checking them at 50 minutes, but at that temperature it will still take a bit of time. If you are making them much thinner, then you will need to check earlier.
Enjoy, Zoë
Hi Zoe,
This is a great recipe. I would like to make the almond/nut flavor a little stronger, is there an extract you would recommend?
Thank you,
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
I would recommend an alcohol based extract rather than an oil, just because it may interfere with the whipping of the whites.
Enjoy, Zoë