Hazelnut Dacquoise

The term dacquoise refers to both the baked layers of nut meringue and the cake itself—yet another British import from the kitchens of French pastry chefs in the nineteenth century. Here, a single large dacquoise is made, suitable for cutting into narrow wedges for teatime. But the same ingredients can be fashioned into small meringues, which can be layered with the buttercream and served as bite-size treats.