Dacquoise — nut meringue layers and coffee buttercream

i. Origin & history

Dacquoise is the feminine form of dacquois, "from Dax", a spa town in the Landes in south-west France, and the cake is usually traced to the pastry shops of that region in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The Landes and neighbouring Béarn have a long tradition of almond and meringue confectionery, and the neighbouring city of Pau has its own very similar cake, sold as le palois. Exactly which shop first made it is not settled, and like many regional French pastries it probably evolved in several places at once.

What made the dacquoise distinctive was the addition of ground nuts to a plain French meringue. The nuts break up the sugar foam, so the baked layer is less brittle and sweet than a pure meringue — crisp on the outside, slightly chewy and almost cake-like inside, with a pronounced toasted flavour. That texture made it ideal for layering with rich fillings, and the classic cake pairs it with coffee or praline buttercream.

In the twentieth century the dacquoise layer became part of the basic vocabulary of French pâtisserie. Pastry chefs use thin sheets of almond or hazelnut dacquoise as the base of mousse cakes and entremets, where its slight chew holds up to moist fillings better than sponge. A related layer, the succès or progrès, is a crisper, flatter almond meringue used in the same way, and the terms are sometimes used loosely for one another.

The idea travelled widely. In the Philippines it became the base of sans rival, a cake of cashew meringue layers and buttercream, and in Japan the dacquoise developed into a small oval sandwich cake filled with buttercream that is a popular gift confection. The French layered cake remains the parent of both.

ii. What the ground nuts do to the meringue

A plain meringue is a foam of egg white proteins and dissolved sugar that dries in the oven into a light, brittle, glassy structure. Folding ground nuts into it changes almost everything. The nut particles interrupt the sugar network, so the baked layer is less hard and less sweet; the fat in the nuts tenderises it; and the nuts toast as it bakes, adding the deep, browned flavour that defines a dacquoise.

The cost is stability. Oil from the nuts can deflate egg foam, so the meringue must be whipped firm and glossy before the nuts go in, and the dry ingredients must be folded in quickly and gently. Mixing the ground nuts with icing sugar and a little cornflour first helps: the fine sugar and starch coat the nut particles, absorb some of their oil and stop them clumping, so they disperse evenly with minimal folding.

Baking temperature decides the texture. A hot oven (around 170 °C) gives the soft, marshmallowy dacquoise used in entremets. A cooler oven and longer bake (around 150 °C for 40 minutes or more) drives off more moisture and gives a crisper, more biscuit-like layer, which is what the traditional layered cake needs to hold up against buttercream. The layers will soften slightly as the cake rests, and that gradual softening — crisp edges, yielding centre — is part of the pleasure.

The buttercream needs to be firm enough to support the layers but not so stiff that slices shatter the meringue when cut. A French buttercream made on egg yolks and sugar syrup is rich and silky, and it uses up the yolks left over from the meringue.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 10 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 6 egg whites (about 180 g)
• 1 pinch salt
• 100 g caster sugar
• 150 g ground almonds, or half almonds and half hazelnuts
• 150 g icing sugar
• 20 g cornflour
• 4 egg yolks
• 150 g sugar, for the syrup
• 50 ml water
• 250 g unsalted butter, soft
• 2 tbsp coffee extract, or 1 tbsp instant espresso dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water
• 40 g flaked almonds, toasted, to finish
• 1 tbsp icing sugar, to dust

The nut choice shapes the cake. Almonds give a delicate, sweet layer; hazelnuts, especially toasted and skinned, give a deeper flavour that pairs beautifully with coffee or praline; a mix of the two is a good compromise. Use finely ground nuts — coarse meal makes a heavier, oilier layer. Egg whites a few days old whip to a more stable foam than very fresh ones. For the buttercream, the butter must be soft but not greasy. If you prefer a lighter cake, replace the buttercream with 400 ml double cream whipped with 2 tbsp icing sugar and a little coffee or praline paste, and serve it the same day. With certified gluten-free cornflour, the whole cake is naturally gluten-free.

iv. Method

1. Heat the oven to 150 °C (300 °F), fan 130 °C. Draw three 20 cm circles on sheets of baking paper and lay them, drawn side down, on two baking trays.
2. Sift the ground nuts, icing sugar and cornflour together. Whisk the egg whites with the salt to soft peaks, then add the caster sugar gradually and whisk to a firm, glossy meringue.
3. Fold the nut mixture into the meringue in three additions with a large spatula, just until no dry streaks remain. Pipe or spread it evenly into the three circles, about 1 cm thick.
4. Bake for 40–45 minutes, swapping the trays halfway, until the discs are pale golden, firm to the touch and lift from the paper. Turn off the oven and leave them to cool inside with the door ajar. Trim to neat circles while still slightly warm if needed.
5. For the buttercream, heat the sugar and water in a small pan until the syrup reaches 118 °C (soft-ball stage). Meanwhile whisk the yolks until pale. Pour the hot syrup in a thin stream onto the yolks with the whisk running, then whisk until thick and completely cool, about 8 minutes.
6. Beat in the soft butter a piece at a time until smooth and fluffy, then beat in the coffee extract. If the buttercream looks curdled, keep beating; it will come together.
7. Place one disc on a serving plate and spread with a third of the buttercream. Repeat with the second disc. Top with the third disc, spread a thin layer around the sides and press toasted flaked almonds onto them.
8. Chill for at least 2 hours to firm up. Dust the top with icing sugar and slice with a serrated knife.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Fold quickly and stop early. The oil in the nuts deflates the meringue the longer you mix. A few streaks are better than a flat, dense layer.
• Sift the nuts with the sugar. Lumps of ground nut will not break up in the foam and leave oily spots in the baked layer.
• Bake low for a crisp cake. A hot oven gives a soft, spongy layer that collapses under buttercream. A cooler, longer bake keeps the structure.
• Cool the discs in the oven. A sudden temperature drop can crack them. Letting them cool slowly also finishes drying them.
• Use a serrated knife. Saw gently through the top layer before pressing down, or the crisp meringue shatters and squeezes out the filling.
• Keep it cool but not cold to serve. Straight from the fridge the buttercream is hard and tasteless; give it 20 minutes at room temperature.

vi. Variations

Coffee buttercream is the classic, but praline buttercream, made by beating 100 g hazelnut praline paste into the buttercream, is equally traditional and arguably better with hazelnut layers. Chocolate dacquoise uses dark chocolate ganache between the layers, and modern versions pair almond dacquoise with whipped cream and summer berries. In Pau, le palois is the local name for a similar almond-meringue and buttercream cake.

The Filipino sans rival is the best-known descendant: cashew meringue layers with French buttercream, usually more numerous and crisper than the French cake. The Norwegian suksessterte builds on a similar almond base, and the hazelnut meringue page covers the crisper, nut-studded meringue on its own. For a meringue cake with chestnut instead of nuts, try the Mont Blanc.

vii. Serving & storage

Dacquoise is a celebration cake, served in modest slices as the dessert at the end of a meal or with coffee in the afternoon. It is rich, so it needs no accompaniment, though a few fresh berries or a spoonful of lightly whipped cream cut through the buttercream.

Keep the assembled cake in the fridge, loosely covered, for up to 3 days; the layers soften gradually, which many people prefer. Let it stand 20 minutes before serving. The unfilled discs keep for up to a week in an airtight tin, and the buttercream for a week in the fridge or three months in the freezer — re-beat it at room temperature before using. The finished cake freezes well for up to a month; thaw it overnight in the fridge.

ix. More from French

• Sans Rival — Filipino cashew dacquoise
• Mont Blanc — chestnut-cream meringue
• Hazelnut Meringue — crisp nut meringue
• Paris-Brest — praline cream choux ring
• Prinsesstårta — Swedish princess cake
• Macarons — almond meringue sandwiches