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dacquoise (butter cream) question

OK, so, I have this Hazelnut and Almond Dacquoise recipe from the LA Times that I'm going to make Saturday. Looks pretty straightforward. The buttercream that fills it, however, calls for 3 TB of instant espresso coffee powder. (So technically this should be called a H&A Mocha Dacquoise).

Here's my question. Some of my guests would undoubtedly prefer chocolate to the coffe flavor. I have looked at various recipes on the net, epicurious, cooks.com, Bon Appetit, the cooks thesaurus, and not found what I would call a good enough match to make a direct substitution of the filler. (In fact, some don't list "dacquoise" at all, but it's really the filling anyway.) I see that they are sometimes filled with mousse, or various whipped cream mixtures, or something that must be frozen. But I haven't found a chocolate butter cream that I think would substitute exactly. I wonder if changing the coffee powder to just some good quality unsweetended cocoa would work? I don't know that using actual chocolate that must be melted would work, as that is not a dry powder and might change the final texture or results. Any suggestions? Here's the recipe for the filling, but I'm not going to type in the meringue plus directions. The three layers of meringue incorporate chopped hazelnuts and almonds, plus some vanilla extract and almond extract. Then they just make three roughly 1/2" thick round meringues that gets filled with the chocolate butter cream:

3/4 C milk 1/2 C sugar 4 egg yolks 3 sticks unsalted butter (really! - not for the coronary artery-impaired!) 3 TB instant espresso coffee powder dissolved in 1 TB warm water

shortened directions:

simmer milk and sugar whisk yolks combine above two (properly), cook until thick beat w/ electric mixer whisk until cool beat in butter beat in espresso/water mixture whip until smooth and fluffy

assemble

So, you experts (Kay Hartman? Sheldon?), do you think I could just substitute cocoa? Another factor is that I hate to keep all my middle-aged guests (including me) awake w/ that much coffee as a dessert. I might try to find decaf espresso (is there such a thing? sounds like an oxymoron), but it sounds like this would also be yummy w/ chocolate instead, or mostly chocolate and a little coffee flavor, like 2 TB cocoa and 1 TB coffee.

Hopefully, betsy

Reply to
Betsy
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You can just use a good quality cocoa power in place of the espresso. For a more powerful chocolate flavor, use 4 to 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate. The more chocolate you add, the stiffer the buttercream will become.

Here is a recipe for buttercream from the Cake Bible

6 large egg yolks 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup corn syrup 2 cups unsalted butter Optional: 2 to 4 tablespoons Liqueur

Beat yolks with an electric mixer until light in color

Combine sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves and comes to a rolling boil.

Beat the sugar mixture into the yolks in a steady stream. Continue to beat until completely cool.

Gradually beat in the butter and optional flavoring.

Chocolate Variation Beat 6 ounces of melted and cooled chocolate (preferably extra bittersweet or bittersweet) into the buttercream.

Mocha: Add 2 tablespoons of espresso powder to chocolate buttercream

Chocolate Praline: Beat 1/4 cup praline paste into the chocolate buttercream.

Reply to
Vox Humana

Betsy,

You can get some good dutched cocoa, like Scharffen Berger or Valrhona, and substitute that, or use a good bittersweet chocolate. 3 ounces, maybe. Or try 1/2 each chocolate and cocoa for a good balanced flavor. Just remember, if you add too much chocolate, it will "harden" more, like a stiff mousse. Not bad, eating wise, really...but it makes it difficult to spread, and does change the texture.

kimberly

Reply to
Nexis

Thanks everybody! I'll dedicate my first bite to you! betsy

Reply to
Betsy

The report: I used 1 TB of espresso powder, will probably cut it down to 1/2 next time. Also used 1 TB cocoa and about 1 oz scharffenburger BS chocolate. Will up to 2 oz choc next time. Turned out fine, though, I will definitely make again. I did not get the 3 maerigue rounds very even on top, (sides were OK) but the filling took care of that. I think next time I'll cover each meringue round with parchment and use cake pan to push down evenly (and lightly). Then I'll bake with parchment on both sides - does that sound OK? I was trying to think of how to use a cake pan to get an even top and then pull it away w/o dragging lots of meringue along with it. Coat with butter, oil, water? So I guess parchment that can go into the oven sounds best. I won't be able to see the color well as it cooks, though.

The advantage of looking at multiple recipes is you ghet an idea of what your window of variability is, this worked well.

betsy

Reply to
Betsy

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