I have been wanting to try this recipe for ages and finally gave it a go over the weekend. I really enjoyed the challenge of attempting something this difficult and was reasonably happy with the end result.
Firstly some tips -
Definitely start this recipe a couple of days in advance. I started on the Friday morning (to serve on a Sunday night). If you have no other interruptions/commitments you could get away with starting the day before but it is not the kind of recipe you can just decide to make on the spur of the moment.
The Titanium Dioxide I got from The Melbourne Food Ingredient Depot - their website address has changed from the one in book. It is now -
https://www.melbournefooddepot.com/The Cake Glaze I bought from Peppercorn Deli in Keysborough (Melbourne) through Ebay. The seller's username is auvicpeter
The Almond Oil I got from Thomas Dux although I believe it is also sold in some health food shops.
Definitely use a shallow pan for the Almond Praline Paste. I made the mistake of using a small deep pan. This means the sugar on the outside starts to burn before the sugar in the middle even starts to melt. Somehow I was able to save it but it took a lot of effort. Learnt my lesson on that one! You will also be left with quite a lot of Almond Praline Paste left over.
With the Vanilla Almond Crunch, the final mix in Step 6 was not long enough for me. I had to do it a couple more times and then use a soft spatula to flatten the ingredients a bit more so they were evenly crushed.
As has been mentioned the Vanilla Glaze is very difficult to work with. I felt if there had just been slightly more of the glaze then it would have spread evenly by itself as I poured it but there just wasn't quite enough. I was able to use a soft spatula to get it pushed out into all of the edges of the pan but after that it was too late and the top ended up looking quite uneven. It didn't really matter though as you couldn't tell once it had been cut into slices. I served it with a Berry Coulis which worked well.
So would I make this again? Probably not. Whilst I enjoyed the taste, I have made other desserts that I have enjoyed more than this one (such as the Salted Caramel Ice Cream Torte).
Upon cutting, I found the top two layers separated from the bottom two very easily so it was very difficult to eat a mouthful with all four layers in it at the same time. Also the Dacquoise sets very hard and was a real challenge to cut through. Of course it is also a very expensive and time consuming recipe to make.
I highly recommend anyone looking for a challenge to give it a go though. The recipe is easy to follow and all of the steps are achievable if you allow enough time and are well prepared. As Kimmy mentioned though there are just too many other recipes I want to try which would mean I'd be unlikely to make this one again in a hurry.
