flourless walnut chocolate cake and dacquoise

I don't do free. No fat free, no sugar free, no gluten free, no dairy or egg free. I live life full, and fully aware of the impact it has on my health! Actually the only free I do is the free food I share with people.

So when I made this cake, I certainly didn't make it because it was gluten free. I picked it for my mom's birthday out of the book Bake it like you Mean it by Gesine Bullock-Prado because it look amazing, and was in the meringue section of the book. My mom loves meringues, so I thought it would be a sure bet.

I knew she would enjoy it, but I was surprised how much the rest of us liked it. My husband and I fought over the last piece.

The cake consists of a flourless walnut chocolate layer, topped with a chocolate filling, then a layer of dacquoise. I made it over three days, making the dacquoise first and storing it in an airtight container for a couple of days. The night before my mom's birthday, I got my husband to play sous-chef and we got the flourless walnut chocolate cake layers in the oven in an half hour. A couple of hours before the birthday dinner, I quickly whipped up the chocolate filling and assembled the cake.

Making the filling was strange for me. 8 egg yolks, 12 oz of chocolate chips and a pinch of salt get combined in the food processor. Yes, the food processor. A half cup of boiling coffee gets poured while the food processor is doing its thing. Then, once everything is combined, a cup of butter gets added to the mix. So I'm pretty sure it's not a buttercream, a mousse maybe? Not technically... So i'm going with an insanely good chocolate filling.

Combined, these three components made for a super rich and delicious cake. The cake was fudgy, the dacquoise got chewy from being sandwiched with the chocolate filling which was super silky. On top of the cake, the little meringue disks stayed crispy.

Probably not the best cake to have after a huge meal, but over the next couple of days, we thoroughly enjoyed it. I just wish I had gotten more and better pictures, but was pressed by time and fading daylight. I wouldn't even post this if it wasn't for the fact that I wanted to remember this cake so I could make it again.