Brazilian weddings are traditionally big, lavish, showy affairs: hairdos, frocks, make up, family jewels, and their desserts do not let them down.
They actually serve hundreds of cakes. Little ones. They’re called Bem Casados, which are small individual sponge cakes sandwiching a Brazilian form of dulce de leche called doce de ovos. They’re dipped into a glaze, individually wrapped in cellophane paper then decoratively wrapped and ribboned. Any Brazilian wedding worth its weight in hair spray will serve Bem Casados.
My stepson’s recent wedding to his Brazilian fiancée was a low-key Australian wedding held at home. Still, I had to serve Bem Casados! I added them to my prep list for the wedding. The problem is they’re not gluten free so I set about testing in order to perfect the GF version. While this work was in progress, the mother of the bride arrived from Brazil with the most enormous amount of luggage. Must be frocks I thought, jewellery? No. She produced 100 Bem Casados from her suitcases. (The things mothers do!)
But, Bem Casados aside, every other mouthful of dessert at this wedding was gluten-free. We had an Almond Dacquoise Layer cake topped with raspberries and filled with Crème Chantilly, more raspberries and blueberries as well as a sprinkling of almond praline for a bit of textural interest.
We had a Chocolate Truffle Torta, a very rich flourless chocolate cake iced in ganache and decorated with large shards of hazelnut brittle arranged like a teepee on top of the cake with a tea light candle underneath illuminating the toffee like a lightbox.
And we had a Pistachio, Ricotta and Chestnut Honey cake decorated with heart shaped pistachio biscuits adorned with gold leaf, all standing at beaming attention on top of the cake. As is traditional at any celebration in our home where young children are involved, there was also a very large platter of jumbo-sized meringues, decorated with chocolate hearts. Always a winner.
Again, there’s nothing like being prepared. All of the cakes and/or elements of the cakes were made days ahead of time. Only the raspberries on top of the Almond Dacquoise Layer Cake needed to be arranged on the day of the wedding as was the cream on top of the Pistachio, Ricotta and Chestnut Honey Cake, its golden hearts inserted at the last minute. The hazelnut brittle shards and the candle on the chocolate cake were also arranged at the last minute, but these were quick and simple jobs.
Finally, there was coffee - the Nespresso doing double time – and almond rochers, dozens of them, handed around and quickly disappearing. And I could put my feet up. Give the girl a beer.
Rosie
ALMOND DACQUOISE LAYER CAKE
Serves 25-30
Meringue (dacquoise) layers
340 gm toasted ground almonds
36 gm cornflour
340 gm castor sugar
256 gm pure icing sugar
1.5 teaspoons cream of tartar
360 gm egg whites (8 or 9 eggs) at room temperature
Unless you own a commercial oven, the four meringue layers will need to be made in two separate batches as described below.
Preheat oven to 130*C. Line 2 large oven trays with non stick baking paper. Trace a 30cm circle on the baking paper on each tray.
Pulse the almonds and corn flour together in a food processor. Remove and weigh half (188g) into each of two small bowls. Pulse the castor and icing sugars together in a food processor. Remove and weigh half (298g) into each of two small bowls.
In a clean dry bowl, whisk half (180g) of the egg whites until frothy. Add half (3/4 of a teaspoon) of the cream of tartar and beat at medium speed while gradually adding 1 tablespoon of the sugar from one of the reserved bowls. When soft peaks form, gradually add the remaining sugar from that bowl and beat at high speed until stiff peaks form.
Fold the almond/cornflour mixture from one of the reserved bowls.
Pipe or spread onto the 30cm circles traced onto the baking paper. Bake for 1.5-2 hours until dry but not coloured. Transfer to a rack to cool.
Repeat the process above for the remaining two meringue disks, using the reserved ingredients. When cool, if not assembling immediately, store the meringue disks air-tightly. (Wrapped in plastic wrap then in double plastic bags works well if you don't have large airtight containers.) Will keep up to a week if stored properly.
Praline
1 cup castor sugar
80 ml water
55 gm slivered almonds
Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat to high and cook without stirring until golden. Add the slivered almonds and pour onto the prepared tray. Allow to cool. Break in to chards and process to a powder in a food processor. Store in an airtight container.
To assemble
1800 ml thickened cream
100 gm castor sugar
30 ml pure vanilla extract
11 punnets raspberries
3 punnets blueberries
6 tablespoons praline, finely ground
Chill a bowl and beater and whisk cream, sugar and vanilla until firm peaks form.
Place one disk of meringue on a serving platter and spread with cream. Top with one punnet of raspberries, one of blueberries and 1.5 tablespoons of praline. Top with another meringue layer, then cream, raspberries, blueberries and praline. Repeat with third meringue layer then cream, raspberries, blueberries and praline. Place the final meringue layer on top, flat side facing up. Ice the top and sides with remaining cream using a long palette knife.
Arrange raspberries very closely together to completely cover the top of the cake.
Refrigerate overnight.