¼ cup (25g) unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa You will need to increase the amounts, of course.Ĭhocolate Meringue Disks (for a Dacquoise)Ħ large egg whites (213 gr), at room temperature If you’d like to increase the size, either make the discs bigger or add a fourth. This recipe makes a 3-disc Dacquoise, with each disc being an 8-inch (20cm) circle, and it makes around 6 servings, as it is rich. If the airline’s smart, they’ll serve this chocolate Dacquoise.įrom Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes But the French were not about to retire a dish of culinary brilliance, and so this legendary cake lives on and will no doubt see the arrival of an even faster jet in years to come. The Concorde was retired in 2003 after a terrible crash. If berries are in season, I’ll add a few to the top for color. The decoration requires nothing more than a chocolate bar and a vegetable peeler. I tend to skip this step, however, and dust the Dacquoise first with cocoa powder, then confectioners’ sugar. The meringue is made a day, or at least 6 hours in advance, as the ganache can be as well. And the very attributes that made it fit for air travel are exactly what makes it ideal for dinner parties and celebrations here on the ground. It’s pure elegance in its simplicity and pure luxury in its richness. It’s decorated with shards of dark chocolate. Lenôtre turned the classic nut meringue into a chocolate dream. In his version, three chocolate meringue discs are layered with a chocolate mousse that is, in fact, a brilliantly rich but ethereal ganache with the consistency of a mousse. Jump ahead, and my father and I started to notice that my mother was leaving for the airport with the guilty pleasure of a woman in the throes of a torrid affair and would arrive home in a state of delirious bliss. Her affair, I can happily report, was with the Concorde itself. A woman who’s never paid much heed to cars or really any moving vehicle, she’d fallen head over heels for this speed machine. But my mother uncovered a loophole, allowing her to buy tickets on the Concorde for the price of a regular 747 ticket. That the Concorde also happened to be a jet of thrilling aerodynamic beauty only added to its chic mystique. Of course, tickets were impossible on a journalist’s budget. It was a grueling schedule until the Concorde arrived on the runway, cutting the flight time by over half. William Shawn, the magazine’s legendary editor from 1952 - 1987, had plucked her out of graduate school after reading a piece of hers in the student newspaper and hired her. Soon she was writing The Letter from Europe for the magazine. Before we moved to Paris, my mother would cross the Atlantic every month or so. Aleksandra really understands French home baking and it’s a thrill to feature her in a guest post, featuring one of the fabulous gâteaux from her book! - Davidįor over fifty years, my mother, Jane Kramer, was the European Correspondent for The New Yorker.
In her new book, Gâteau: The Surprisingly Simplicity of French Cakes, Aleksandra Crapanzano, who grew up in Paris (and New York), offers up over 150 French cake recipes, from savory to sweet, each one eminently do-able…wherever you are.
(And in Paris, kitchens are so compact that rolling out dough is a challenge.) That said, people will tackle a dessert that’s more of a project, although most people in France stick to simple desserts. It’s not that French people don’t like to bake, it’s just that with so many bakeries nearby, people often leave it to the pros.
When French people bake at home, it’s generally a humble affair, and usually they make something as simple as a Yogurt Cake or a fruit tart, made even easier with store-bought pâte brisée (pastry), which is sold in rolls and commonly used in France.
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