Celebrity chef Rakhee Vaswani shares her recipes. You can share yours too!
Photograph: Courtesy Rakhee Vaswani
Ingredients:
For the Almond Dacqoise
- 85 gm almond flour
- 125 icing sugar
- 20 gm corn flour
- 140 gm egg whites
- 40 gm castor sugar
- Sugar syrup
For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 210 gm egg whites
- 400 gm castor sugar
- 340 gm unsalted butter
- Vanilla paste, to taste
- Orange gel food colour
- Green gel food colour
For the decorations
- 8 sticks of uncooked spaghetti
- 6 tsp castor sugar
- Orange gel food colour
- Green gel food colour
Method:
For the Almond Dacqoise
- Beat together the egg whites and castor sugar until soft peaks have formed.
- In another bowl, combine almond flour, icing sugar and corn flour.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the egg white mixture.
- Spread batter into a thin layer on a tray lined with a silicon sheet.
- Bake in a 170°Celsius oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Over a double boiler whisk the egg whites and castor sugar until sugar has completely dissolved and the mixture has reached a peaky consistency.
- Take this mixture off the heat, whisk at a medium-high speed using a hand mixer or a stand mixer until peaks are formed.
- To this gradually add butter, once the buttercream has reached the right consistency add vanilla paste to taste.
- Divide the buttercream into three parts.
- Add food colour to two parts of buttercream to give equal amounts of orange, white and green buttercream.
For the decorations
- Add three teaspoons of castor sugar to two small bowls, each.
- To this add two drops of food colouring to each bowl: one green and one orange, and combine.
- Dip four spaghetti sticks into water and coat with orange castor sugar and place on a silpat over a baking tray.
- To the same with the remaining spaghetti sticks and green castor sugar.
- Dry the sticks in a 180-190 degree oven for 5 minutes.
- Remove and cool.
For the assembly
- Cut the Almond Dacquoise into rectangles of equal dimensions.
- Create a pastry of 5 layers; place one Dacquoise layer down first.
- Soak the sheet with sugar syrup using a brush.
- Follow this by spreading a layer of green buttercream on the first Dacquoise sheet.
- Place another Dacquoise sheet atop the green buttercream layer, soak with sugar sugar and spread orange buttercream over the Dacquoise.
- Repeat process alternating between green and orange frosting.
- The final Dacquoise sheet should have orange buttercream under it.
- Soak the topmost Dacquoise sheet, over it spread a layer of white buttercream.
- Clean and sharpen the edges using a pallet knife.
- Add all three butter creams in separate piping bags.
- Over the pastry pipe dots of buttercream following the pattern of the Indian flag.
- Or alternatively; use orange and green food colour to tint neutral gel. Add a few small dollops of coloured gel to white buttercream layer of pastry. Spread using a pallet knife to create a marble effect.
- Add coloured decorations in desired pattern.
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