Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Tropical Napoleons
May 20, 2014 at 5:51 pm | Posted in BWJ, groups, other sweet, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 13 CommentsTags: baking, dessert, fruit
Charlotte Akoto’s recipe for Tropical Napoleons is in a section of the book called “Grand Pastries,” which seems to mean plated desserts. I have to say that a lot of them look kinda dated to me, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still taste great. This dessert, with layers of coconut and sesame meringue, fruit and rum whipped cream is really light, but so satisfying. I wouldn’t turn down Eaton mess or a pavlova, so I knew I would like this one, too.
Despite its “grand” status, this recipe isn’t really that involved. Whipped cream and sliced fruit are easy enough to prep. If you don’t have a good selection of tropical fruit (I wish I could buy passion fruit in Brooklyn from any corner fruit guy like I could when we lived in Sydney), just go with straight-up berries. Even the meringue is a simple one to make, and a quick stencil cut from a yogurt lid makes perfect meringue disks. I baked my meringues on a Silpat and they took almost twice as long as the recipe said to get fully crisp. If anything gives you trouble, it will be getting those meringues off your sheet pan after they’re baked– they’re meant to be really thin, which also makes them really brittle. I only broke one before discovering that if I ran an offset spatula carefully around its outer edge before kind of pressing the spatula down into the Silpat and scooting it underneath the meringue, it would come off in one piece. The meringues are sweet, so I cut back a bit on the sugar in the cream.
For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. There’s a video here of the episode. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
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a whisk and a spoon 
the beautiful look of this dessert belies its ease! lovely!
Comment by Chaya— May 20, 2014 #
Can you stay that Napoleon is beautiful 🙂 Love the diced fruit in between the wafers! Are those black sesame seeds on top? Cool contrast!
Comment by oven chaos— May 20, 2014 #
I agree that the recipe was not “grand” in its demands but maybe in presentation? Yours looks perfect.
Comment by sunshine x 2— May 21, 2014 #
Photo looks great. Yum…looks delish!
Comment by crafteaheart— May 21, 2014 #
Grand, but certainly easy to whip up this very elegant dessert; on my list for next dinner party.
Comment by Simply Splendid Victorian Afternoon Teas— May 21, 2014 #
Perfectly done! It’s hard to find any exotic tropical fruit in middle America, but I love your selection 🙂
Comment by thatskinnychickcanbake— May 21, 2014 #
mmmm…. yummy! And the pic. is so nice! 🙂
Comment by tastyrules— May 22, 2014 #
These are so lovely & light. Such a beautiful treat!
Comment by saffronandhoney— May 25, 2014 #
Gorgeous! Your pavlova is stunning as well.
Comment by Cathleen— May 29, 2014 #
You had me a fruit and rum whipped cream! Sounds delicious! Do you think doing this with just strawberries would be good too?
Comment by winesunder15dollars— June 1, 2014 #
sure would!
Comment by steph (whisk/spoon)— June 2, 2014 #
So beautiful! I love looking at everyone’s version of this dish. Makes me want more dessert!
Comment by Cher— June 3, 2014 #
woww!!! this is amazing,,..
glad to discover this amazing blog of yours!!:-)
Comment by nimmiafzal— July 2, 2014 #