Concorde Cake
Classic meets modern in the Concorde Cake! This wild-looking dessert features layers of airy chocolate meringue and velvety chocolate mousse. The deep chocolate flavor and textural contrast is truly unforgettable.
What is a Concorde Cake?
The Concorde Cake was created to celebrate the inaugural flight of the iconic supersonic jet. I first set eyes on a Concorde Cake when I was touring Paris with my culinary school. We were there in the late 80s and Concorde Cakes were in all the pastry shop windows.
I came home obsessed with the striking design and couldn’t wait to reproduce one in my own kitchen.
Fast forward 30-odd years and I’m thrilled to introduce you to this unique confection.
No, it’s not a simple, quick or particularly easy recipe. But, just look at it! It’s totally worth the work.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Heavy Cream – Heavy Cream has a higher fat content than “whipping cream”. The higher fat content makes a more luscious and stable mousse.
- Grand Marnier – The liquor is optional but alcohol does enhance other flavors. You can just leave it out or switch in another liquor such as rum or brandy.
- Chocolate – I made this recipe using 55% semi-sweet chocolate. The percentage on a package of chocolate refers to how much cocoa solids are in the chocolate in relation to other ingredients such as sugar. The higher the percent, the less sugar there is in the chocolate.
Process Photos
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- Sift the powdered sugar with the cocoa powder.
- Draw three 8″ circles on parchment paper.
- Whip the egg whites with the granulated sugar until stiff.
- Fold the cocoa into the meringue and fill a piping bag.
- Pipe discs of meringue using the circles as a guide.
- Pipe the rest of the meringue into long strips. Bake the meringues in a 200F oven until dried.
- Whisk the yolks with sugar and Grand Marnier.
- Place the bowl over simmering water and whisk until warm.
- Whisk at high speed until the yolks have lightened in color and texture and are completely cooled.
- Whisk the melted chocolate into the yolks.
- Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate base.
- Fold in the whipped egg whites.
- If the mousse is too soft to spread, chill it briefly.
- Cut the meringue strips into 2″ segments.
- Spread 1/3 of the mousse into the first layer.
- Continue with the other 2 layers.
- Frost the entire cake with the rest of the mousse.
- Stick the meringue pieces all over the outside of the cake.
- Chill until the mousse is completely set.
Recipe Tips
- The meringues can be baked up to 1 day before assembling the cake. Store the baked meringues on a tightly wrapped sheet pan. Avoid holding the baked meringues in an extremely humid environment.
- If your oven holds a lot of moisture or runs hot, prop open the door with the handle of a wooden spoon while the meringues are baking.
- Liason is a technique that is used to combine two ingredients with different textures or temperatures. For the smoothest mousse, use the liason technique to add the chocolate to the yolks and the cream to the chocolate base.
Serving & Storage
- Honestly, this is a difficult cake to cut. Between the soft mousse and the crisp meringue things get kind of messy. I say, embrace the craziness of the Concorde Cake and don’t worry about perfect slices.
- Concorde Cake will keep for 1-2 days in the refrigerator. The meringue will begin to soften after a day.
More spectacular French specialties
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Concorde Cake
Spectacular cake for a special occasion.
servings
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Ingredients
Meringue
- 8 oz confectioner sugar (2 cups )
- 4 oz dutch process cocoa powder (1 cup)
- 9 large egg whites (11 oz, at room temperature)
- 14 oz granulated sugar (1 ¾ cups)
Chocolate Mousse
- 16 oz heavy cream (2 cups)
- 10 oz semi-sweet chocolate (chopped)
- 5 large egg yolk
- 2 oz Grand Marnier (¼ cup, optional)
- 4 oz granulated sugar (½ cup, divided)
- 2 large egg whites
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 °F. Line 3 half sheet pans with parchment paper. On one sheet of paper trace two 8" circles with a dark marker. Flip the paper so the marker side is down. Trace one circle on another piece of paper and flip that too.
- Sift together 8 oz confectioner sugar and 4 oz dutch process cocoa powder and set it aside.
- On medium speed, whip 9 large egg whites to soft peak. With the mixer running, very slowly add 14 oz granulated sugar. Increase the speed to medium high and whip to full peak. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift 1/3 of the cocoa mixture over the meringue and fold until mostly combined. Continue sifting and folding the rest of the cocoa in 2 increments. Fill a piping bag fitted with a 1/2" plain tip with the meringue.
- Pipe the meringue in a spiral to fill each of the circles. On the other sheet pan and on the pan with one circle, pipe long strips of meringue the length of the pan. Bake for 2-3 hours until completely dry. The strips will bake faster. Remove them from the oven and let the discs finish drying. The discs may take another hour or so.
- The meringues with be very light and completely firm when dry. They should easily release from the parchment paper. Cool completely before assembling the cake. The meringue can be made 1 day ahead and stored on tightly wrapped sheet pans.
Chocolate Mousse
- Whip 16 oz heavy cream to soft peak and set in the refrigerator while you prepare the other ingredients. Melt 10 oz semi-sweet chocolate and set aside.
- Combine 5 large egg yolks, half (2 oz) of the granulated sugar and 2 oz Grand Marnier in a mixer bowl. Set the bowl with the yolks over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water). Whisk until the mixture is warm to the touch. Don't throw away the water, you'll use it for the whites too.
- Move the bowl to the mixer (or use a hand mixer) and whisk until the yolks are completely cooled and have lightened in color and texture. Whisk the melted chocolate into the yolk mixture. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate base.
- Combine 2 large egg whites with the remaining 2 oz granulated sugar in a heatproof mixing bowl. Set the bowl over the pan of simmering water and heat to 160 °F, whisking constantly. Remove the whites from the heat and whip to full peak and completely cooled. Fold the whites into the mousse. If the meringue is too soft to spread allow it to firm up a little bit before assembling the cake. You want the mousse thick enough to spread, but not completely set.
Assembly
- Lift the cooled meringue strips off the parchment paper. Use a serrated knife to cut the strips into 2" segments.
- Place one of the chocolate meringue discs on a cake serving platter. Spread ⅓ of the chocolate mousse over the meringue. Place the second meringue on the mousse and top with half of the remaining mousse. Top with the last disc and ice the entire cake with the rest of the mousse.
- Cover the outside of the cake with the meringue sticks. You can place them in a neat pattern, or as I prefer you can just pile them on in a haphazard fashion. Refrigerate about 6 hours or overnight. The cake will keep in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.
Equipment
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Notes
Admittedly this is a difficult cake to cut with the meringue chunks, meringue layers and soft mousse. Just embrace the craziness of the Concorde Cake and don’t worry about a perfect slice.
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @eileen.bakingsense or tag #bakingsense!
Dein Concorde Cake sieht großartig aus, so schmeckt er sicher auch!
Danke fürs Teilen und Danke für die Gramm Angaben!
Viele Grüße sendet,
Gabriel
This looks incredible. Wonder if you could leave off the egg-white tubes? The cake looks like it would taste just as good without them,
You could leave off the meringue chunks and just ice it with the mousse. There is quite a thick layer of mousse under the meringue bits so you’d have to adjust that. You could also make the meringue pieces the height of the cake and neatly arrange them around the sides. I like the chaotic look, but you could definitely make it neater.
Of course you can leave off the meringue tubes Barbara, it is a free country! If you wish to call it Gateaux Concorde then the tubes are part of that creation which was specially invented to be served on the great Concorde. It may be mousse heavy without the meringue decor to balance it anyway but you should do it however you wish