Pineapple Coconut Dacquiose

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie baking challenge was Dorie’s Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquiose, chosen by Andrea of Andrea in the Kitchen (who has the recipe within her blog). What a great choice and a wonderfully light, refreshing dessert for the tropical dinner menu I prepared tonight! This was a recipe I was fairly intimidated with but soon felt relieved halfway through.

This dessert consists of thin meringue layers made with egg whites, coconut, and almonds. The egg whites must be whipped to a soft peak consistency…

… while unsweetened coconut, slivered almonds, cornstarch and confectioner’s sugar are processed together.

Both these mixtures are folded together to create the basis of the cake’s meringue layers.

The recipe called for baking three rectangular layers which will result in one cake. However, I’ve been into making individual desserts lately to make serving and presentation easier. Rather than layers, I made thin meringue cookies instead.

Other components of the cake include a white chocolate ganache, toasted coconut and thin slices of caramelized pineapple.

To assemble, I took one meringue cookie and topped it with a dollop of the white chocolate ganache, followed by a layer of caramelized pineapple and a sprinkling of the toasted coconut. I repeated this with two other meringue cookies, ending with a dollop of the white chocolate ganache, a sprinkling and a single caramelized pineapple wedge as garnish.

It was a perfect ending to our summer meal! Please check out how the other fellow Tuesdays With Dorie bloggers did with their cake!