Bon Appetit's Cocoa Nib, Chocolate, and Citrus Dacquoise

The biggest challenge warrants the biggest bon appetempt post yet: Welcome to the Cocoa Nib, Chocolate, and Citrus Daquwhatthef@#k, which would be a three day odyssey of cake prep, baking, assembly and general dish washing.

their version:

my version:

I couldn't get the drizzle right, so I photoshopped it. Hardly noticeable, right?

Starting with cocoa nibs.
We didn't have a coffee bean grinder or an herb grinder, so I grabbed the hammer out of Matt's tool box and went at it. As motivation, I thought about how I would never get the drizzle right in the final photo as I pounded away...

And now, the kitchenaid's debut!
This machine came in handy not once or twice, but four times. First, with the two meringue layers.
Next, with the below mixture for the chiffon cake, which called for more egg whites to be whipped and then added to the chocolate mixture. And finally the making of the mascarpone whipped cream mixture (not pictured), which we whipped twice, under-whipping it the first time out of fear that it would curdle and then, the second time out of fear that we hadn't whipped it enough.

Check out the peeling off of the parchment paper:
At this chiffon-cake point, Matt and I were already in a state of shock over what this cake was asking us to do when we got to the marmalade. I had already bought orange marmalade, but when I went back to the recipe to see how much I was supposed to slather on top of the chiffon cake, I realized that the marmalade was clickable--to a recipe for blood orange marmalade! nooooooo way, bon appetit. We were already essentially making three separate cakes and fillings from scratch, so we had to draw the line and use the jarred stuff. (BIG deal?)

Now for the scariest moment--combining the two stacked layers.
I couldn't get a shot of how much the cake was sagging in the middle when we transported it because I was too busy repeating stuff like "please no, please no... not again." And alas, it worked.

We happily topped it off with the last meringue layer and began the first coating of chocolate glaze.

A shot of it in mid clean-up.

the second layer of chocolate glaze.

Transporting it to our friends' house. (Can anyone spot my eye in this picture?)
After a delicious meal made by Jodi (who will hopefully be posting a guest bon appettempt) we cut the cake and let me tell you, it was awesome. Or as my loving step-dad might say: Dacqwonderful.