Ikea Daim Cake - Take 3 and Success!

This is the third time I am trying to replicate the Ikea Daim Cake. For those of you that have yet to try it, this cake is also known as the Almondy Cake and is very decadent and delicious. The link shows you how the real Almondy is supposed to look and I must admit that as far as looks go, my attempt is far from pretty. Taste wise however, I do think mine gives the original a run for its money!




I made this cake for a dinner that we hosted for a few of our good friends - friends of the Lovely Wife's dating back to her school days! I decided to improve on this cake again since Lynn, who had heard about my Ikea Daim Cake attempts had mentioned that she wanted to try it.

In my previous attempt, I had used a joconde recipe for the base but felt that it was too thick. This time, I decided to go with my Almond Meringue base. I also use Dark Toblerone instead of Daim chocolate since Daim is extremely expensive on this side of the world. I also decided to make some almond praline to replicate the caramel in the Daim.

I also decided to make my Pastry Cream with a little ground almonds rather than using almond essence. I think that worked out better than the almond essence as the almond taste was not so pronounced.

So this is what I did.

Almond Biscuit
3 Egg whites
125 g sugar
160g almonds

line two 8" pans with parchment or nonstick paper. Whisk egg whites and sugar till stiff. Fold in almonds till nicely incorporated. Spread evenly into the two pans and bake in a 190C oven for about 20 mins. Remove paper and let cool.


Ganache
300ml thickened cream
2x100g bar Dark Toblerone
100g Dark Chocolate

Heat Cream till boiling and then pour over Toblerone and Dark Chocolate, stirring till melted and smooth. Set aside.

Praline
6 heaped tsps sugar
a little water
about 50g almond slices (2 handfuls)

Make Caramel by melting sugar with a little water and boiling till mixture turns a nice amber colour. Quickly add in the almond slices and mix thoroughly ensuring nuts are coated. Pour out on to a greaseproof lined baking tray and let set.


Pastry Cream
1 1/4 cups (300 ml) milk
2 Tbsp ground almonds
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup (50 grams) caster sugar
1/8 cup (20 grams) all-purpose flour
Scant 3 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch
50g butter
35 tbsp icing sugar

Method
In a medium-sized stainless steel bowl, mix the caster sugar and egg yolks together with a wooden spoon. (Never let the mixture sit too long or you will get pieces of egg forming.) Sift the flour and cornstarch together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste. Set aside.

Meanwhile in a saucepan heat the milk on medium heat until boiling. (The milk will foam up to the top of pan when done, so watch carefully.) Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. (If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer.)

Place the egg mixture back into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes very thick and it is hard to stir.

Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the butter and ground almonds. Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Cool. Beat with icing sugar before using to firm it up a little more and get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

Assembly
Spread a thin Layer of Almond Pastry Cream over one layer of the Almond Meringue. Cover with the second layer and spead with another thin layer of Pastry Cream. Place in fridge to chill for a while. Cover with chopped praline and spread melted chocolate over the top and sides.


One mistake I made was to let the chocolate cool for too long. I actually put it in the fridge to set up a little so that I had to spread the chocolate over the cake resulting in a rather thick layer of chocolate. Nothing wrong with that really but I think the next time I make this, I should pour a thin layer of chocolate over the pastry cream before layering the second layer of almond meringue.



Taste wise, this was really lovely and the almond praline made a big difference. Our guests loved it as did the Lovely Wife and kids - and that is why I reckon that this effort was the most succesful! I think I have almost perfected the Ikea Daim Cake and I just need to try and make the layers a little thinner and more beautiful...