How Date & Dacquoise Began

I started baking about fifteen years ago, and very early on I realized I was obsessed with traditional recipes. I searched for desserts tucked inside family notebooks, mentioned in passing in old cookbooks, or described lovingly on personal blogs. The more elusive a recipe was, the more it pulled me in.

I chased down forgotten cakes and regional pastries, learning to make them before I ever tasted them. Most of the time, the first time I tasted something was the day I baked it. I learned to tell if I “got it right” by reading other people’s descriptions—how they remembered the flavor and the texture, and how their families made it. Their memories became my compass.

Over time, I noticed that this genre of humble, heritage-style baking—the kind of dessert a grandmother would place on her kitchen table—wasn’t easy to find in many places I lived or visited. I wanted to change that.

Date & Dacquoise does not represent one culture

It reflects a worldly curiosity and a belief that traditional recipes deserve to be preserved, understood, and shared, no matter their origins. My approach is simple: honor the recipe’s story and use thoughtful, modern technique to bring it as close as possible to how it was meant to be.

Here I hope to offer the desserts I’ve learned and loved, discover new ones through my community, and help keep these inherited recipes alive.

One of the first cakes I baked and still one of my favorites: German apple cake. Lightly sweet, and full of apple flavor.