This cake has a cult following. It’s the signature cake from Newtown’s Black Star Pastry. This recipe appeared in Gourmet Traveller a while ago and it has taken me until now to get around to making it. I’ve adapted the recipe slightly and used a round cake tin instead of a square one.
It’s actually not all that hard to make and I think well worth the effort. It basically has three main components : two layers of almond dacquoise ( like a meringue); rose-scented cream; watermelon and strawberries; and garnished with slivered pistachios and dried rose petals.
There are plenty of how-to videos on-line too.
For almond dacquoise Preheat oven to 200°C. Process almonds and icing sugar in a food processor until the almonds are finely ground. Whisk eggwhites in an electric mixer until soft peaks form (3-4 minutes), then gradually add caster sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form (1-2 minutes). Gently fold through almond mixture, spread or pipe, two circles of the mixture, a little bigger than your cake tin,( I used a 23cm springform tin) onto two oven trays lined with baking paper and bake until golden (10-15 minutes). Set aside to cool on tray. Arrange watermelon slices in a single layer on a wire rack. Sprinkle with 20ml rosewater, then scatter with 2 tablespoons sugar. Stand to macerate (30 minutes), then pat dry with absorbent paper. For the rose-scented cream Cover the gelatine sheets with cold water in a heat proof bowl and allow to soften. Drain off almost all the water and microwave the gelatin for about 15 seconds or until just melted. Cool, add the rosewater and stir. Whisk cream and sugar in an electric mixer until soft peaks form, gradually add rosewater/ gelatin mix and whisk until stiff peaks form (do not over-whisk) To assemble the cake Line the base and sides of a springform tin with baking paper. If you have access to some clear acetate from your local cake shop, use that to line the sides of the tin. Lay one daquoise in the base of the tin, using the removable collar of your cake tin as your size guide. Spread or pipe one-third of rose cream evenly over the dacquoise, scatter with half the almond meal. Top with watermelon slice or slices, again, use the cake tins' removable collar as your size guide, trim to fill any gaps. Scatter over remaining almond meal. Spread or pipe over half remaining cream. Top with the second dacquoise, spread over remaining cream and refrigerate until firm (1-2 hours). Combine strawberries, remaining rosewater and remaining sugar in a bowl, toss to combine and set aside to macerate (15 minutes). Carefully arrange on top of cake, gently pushing into cream. Refrigerate for 3 hours. Lightly brush the berries with melted redcurrant jelly or melted and sieved apricot jam, if you wish. Scatter over grapes and pistachios and lastly the petals, if using Carefully remove the cake tin collar and transfer onto a serving plate. I bought a half watermelon, and was able to cut one full slice to fit the cake tin.
After listening to chef Christopher The', on one video, I added 2 sheets of titanium gelatin (5g each) to the cream, to ensure the cake cut more easily.Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Linda
February 27, 2019 at 1:16 pmDo you have a US conversion option for your revipes?
Ann McDonald
February 27, 2019 at 4:59 pmHi Linda, No I don’t have a US conversion, as no doubt you are aware, there is quite a variance in weight/ liquids and cups between the US, Australia and the UK, so I have kept it to metric grams/kilos. My best suggestion is to buy an inexpensive set of digital scales, which covers everything, and makes life so much easier. The Daquiose is probably the only part of this recipe that needs to be precise. I use 60-65g eggs, which are labeled Large in Australia. With regard to gelatin, I use leaf gelatin as it is a clearer gelatin with virtually no flavour. However most recipes don’t specify which type of leaf gelatin to use – and there are at least 4, all with varying strengths. The most common one sold is Silver which is 2.5g per leaf as opposed to Titanium which is 5g.
A couple of conversion sites you could try are: https://www.weekendbakery.com/cooking-conversions/
https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/cooking/cooking-calculator.php
https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/hints-tips/cheat-sheets/imperial-to-metric-conversion-table
Happy cooking. Ann