Pistachio Dacquoise with Raspberry and Pomegranate

This pistachio dacquoise consists of two pistachio meringues piped in decorative shapes filled with raspberry whipped cream. Topped with pomegranate seeds this makes an effective centrepiece for a dinner party or special occasion! My pistachio dacquoise is a meringue with ground almonds, pistachios and caster sugar folded into it. I used a piped layer of whipped cream with freeze-dried raspberry pieces folded into it in the middle of the two piped dacquoises, and topped it with more of the raspberry pieces and pomegranate seeds. I was very pleased with how it turned out, especially as I don’t use piping bags very often (I hope this isn’t too blindingly obvious). My children thought it looked very pretty though one ate only the cream and the other only liked the pomegranate seeds on top! 😉

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• Recipe inspiration
• What is a dacquoise?
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Recipe inspiration

Last week on The Great British Bakeoff (The Great British Baking Show for viewers in the USA!) was Patisserie week and also the semi-finals, so I was rather worried about what to make this week for #GreatBloggersBakeOff and GBBO Bake-along! I am not that keen on Baklava, have a ridiculous grill which ruled out the Schichttorte, and so that left only Entremets.  Until last week when I looked it up on Wikipedia, I had no idea what entremets actually meant, even though I have a degree in French. I thought it was just a dessert, in any form! Wikipedia told me “for modern pastry chefs, an entremet is a multi-layered mousse-baked cake with various complementary flavours and varying textural contrasts.” Right, not easy then, and having watched last weeks show with the amazing creations made in particular by Luis and Richard, it would definitely not be simple. I googled entremets recipes and one of the things that popped up was a pistachio dacquoise made to look like a giant macaron. It looked beautiful so I decided to attempt something similar, hoping this would be classed as patisserie if it isn’t quite an entremets! Read on to find out more about my Pistachio Dacquoise with Raspberry and Pomegranate.

What is a dacquoise?

If your first question is what on earth is a dacquoise then I can explain! A dacquoise is a meringue with finely chopped or ground nuts folded into the mixture before baking. Layers of dacquoise are often used in patisserie for example combined with creme patissière and other delights. Dacquoise is also the name for the resulting dacquoise cake or dessert. I have used pistachio and almond in my dacquoise recipe here. 

Ingredients needed for Pistachio Dacquoise 

• 100 g caster sugar
• 100 g pistachios, ground (I bought whole kernels and ground mine in my blender)
• 70 g ground almonds
• 200 g egg whites (this was the egg white from about 6 and a half medium eggs)
• 100 g caster sugar
• 35 g light brown sugar
• 300 ml double cream
• 1 tube of freeze-dried raspberry pieces (I used half approx)
• 1 pot of fresh pomegranate seeds

How to make a Pistachio Dacquoise

1. Combine the caster sugar, ground pistachios and ground almonds in a bowl. 2. Make the meringue by placing the egg whites in a stand mixer and beating. Add the caster sugar and light brown sugar. 3. Continue to beat for about 5 minutes on the highest speed until the egg whites are firm. 4. Fold in the pistachio and almond mixture using a metal spoon or rubber spatula. 5. Place the meringue in a large piping bag fitted with an open round nozzle. 6. Line two baking trays with silicon baking mats or baking paper. 7. Pipe a flower shape on each using a pie tin with the base removed to guide you with the shape. 8. Bake the dacquoises for 12-14 minutes at 200 degrees, until lightly brown. They will still feel quite soft, with a crispy shell. 9. Leave them to cool completely. 10. When ready to assemble it, and the layers are completely cold, whip the cream (takes about 5-6 minutes by hand using a whisk) until it reaches the soft peak stage. Fold in the freeze-dried raspberry pieces gently. 11. Place the cream in a piping bag, again with the open round nozzle. 12. Pipe round tear-shaped drops around the edge of the bottom layer. 13. Next fill in the centre by piping circles in a spiral. 14. Place the top layer on top of the cream. Handle it very gently or the top layer may break. 15. Decorate the top by sprinkling on more of the freeze-dried raspberry pieces and the pomegranate seeds. If you like, dust with icing sugar too. 16. Keep refrigerated until serving. This is a delicious crunchy and chewy dessert filled with different flavours. I really liked the pistachio in the meringue which gave it a great flavour and texture. The pomegranate seeds added a crunch and sourness, and the freeze-dried raspberries some extra sweetness and contrasting flavour on the top and in the cream. You can find the recipe card with the full dacquoise recipe for printing below.

Pim this recipe for Pistachio Dacquoise with Raspberry and Pomegranate for later

 

Recipe

I’m linking up with #GreatBloggersBakeoff with Jenny Paulin from Mummy Mishaps.