May 5, 2011

Friday- Opera Cake..finally..

"Opera Cake is a type of French cake. It is made with layers of almond sponge cake (known as Joconde in French) soaked in coffee syrup, layered with ganache and coffeebuttercream, and covered in a chocolate glaze. According to Larousse Gastronomique "Opéra gateau is an elaborate almond sponge cake with a coffee and chocolate filling and icing."The cake was popularized by the French pâtisserie house Dalloyau." -Wikipedia

It took me forever to cut this cake into a diamond shape slice. Almost a diamond perhaps. {Phew} The most forever about it was making the cake itself actuallyYerp..I did it..I can finally crossed opera cake from my baking list..Hip2x hurray for me..wuhoooooo... *cheeky proud grin*
I whipped the mocha buttercream on Thursday, and thought of assembling the cake on Friday- the same date as the royal wedding day. It would be great to have a special delicacy to mark the royal wedding ceremony rite.. since it was called the wedding of the year, of the century, of a lifetime, blah blah.. But it didn't happened..err my cake I mean.. =/ You wanna know why? You see..I was glued on TV from 3pm, and after 2 hours in front of the screen, I started to feel dizzy and felt like to throw out already. I knew the wedding service would start at 6, but me being me, over-excited blah blah, didn't want to miss watching every single second of the live telecast.. and by the time Will and Kate finally tied a knot, the headache was swirling all my head already. It was terrible. [I used to be a TV junkie during my teen years..what happened to that part of myself..hihi..] So the plan had to be postponed on the next day. Long story short, I created this marvelous cake on Monday. Period. ;p
Well, it's a rich cake, enough said. Layers of almond sponge cake, with mocha buttercream and chocolate ganache in between.. heaven! You could imagine the taste your self he he..  I made an 8x8 inch square cake, too big for our family to consume it at once. I halved it and keep one half in the fridge and the other half on the freezer. We shall finish it by this month he he.. 

Opera cake
{Recipe adapted from Bisous A Toi..Thanks K Rima!}

Ingredients
  • 200g finely ground almond
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 50g butter, melted
  • 60g all purpose flour
  • 115g egg whites
  • 55g confectioner sugar - i used caster sugar






For the Jaconde:
  1. Preheat oven to 200C.. Prepare two pans (20 x 20 cm), greased and lined with baking paper.
  2. In a large bowl combine ground almond, caster sugar and 3 eggs, beat at high speed for 10 minutes, scraping often.
  3. Add remaining eggs one at a time, continue to beat for another 10 minutes.
  4. Stir in 4 tbsp of almond mixture into melted butter and mix till well combined, set aside.
  5. Add sifted flour to the remaining almond mixture, mix well... put aside
  6. In another bowl, beat egg whites til foamy, add sugar gradually and continue to beat until soft peaks formed.
  7. Take 1/3 of egg white and pour into almond mixture and mix it gently.. pour back almond mixture into the remaining 2/3 egg white mixture and continue to fold in gently.. dont overmix or u might deflate ur egg white..
  8. Divide and spread into prepared pans, bake both pans at once for 20 mins in 175C. Cool completely, remove from pans, discard paper and slice it into total 4 layers.
For Coffee Syrup:
100ml hot brewed espresso - you can of course use 15g of instant coffee with 100ml hot water
100g sugar
Mix all ingredients, stirring until sugar dissolves. Set aside.

For Mocha buttercream:
100g egg whites
200g sugar
300g unsalted butter - cubed and chilled and let it out once u start to whip ur egg white/sugar
1/2 tbsp mocha paste
1tsp coffee oil - u can use coffee essence/flavor if u cant find coffee oil

1. Using double boiler.. heat egg white and sugar till sugar dissolved - use ur thermometer ok.. heat till 65C..
2. Pour egg white mixture into ur mixing bowl and whisk using high speed till mixture turns glossy.. add in cubed butter one at a time and continue to beat till its slightly fluffy.. (buttercream texture)
3. Add in coffee oil, mocha paste and 50ml of coffee syrup into buttercream.. stir till well combined.. set aside

For Chocolate Ganache
200g dark chocolate compound
200g milk chocolate compound - I used a mixture of 70%, 64% and 55%)
75g unsalted butter
250 ml fresh cream - I used double cream

1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces.
2. Heat cream until warm. Remove from heat and pour it over chocolate.. let it sit for 5 mins and stir
3. Add in butter and continue to stir well again.
4. Put it aside till it thickens.
Assembling

There are various way to assemble Opera, you can find many on internet. Heres my version..
  1.  Place one sheet of joconde upside down (top of the cake on bottomside).
  2.  Brush thoroughly with coffee syrup until moist.
  3. Spread one part of coffee cream evenly over the cake.
  4. Cover with another sheet of joconde, always upside down.
  5. Brush thoroughly with coffee syrup until moist
  6. Cover with thick ganache and cover with another sheet of joconde.
  7. Repeat above steps until all joconde, coffee cream and ganache are stacked completely. Chill for 10 minutes.
  8. Double boil remaining ganache over low heat just until simmer, pour evenly on the top. Chill for another 30mins.
  9. Trim the sides thinly to remove excess cream & ganache to reveal the layers of art and delicacy.

23 comments:

  1. tabahnye ko!!! nampak sedap! bila la aku ada masa nak cuba buat ni weyyy

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  2. RC,

    Where have u been? Lama betul menghilang. I dont think I'll make opera cake ever! Leceh bila nak kena layer2 ni. Lagipun I'm pretty sure tak habis sebab my family members semua bukan a cake person. :)


    ps : really miss oogling at your beautiful creations :D

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  3. Lurpak,

    kek ni kena wat ahead one day camtu..klu wat berdikit2, sure ade time nak wat kek ni ;)

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  4. Sizuka,

    oh..ade org miss me.. ;p adam was down with fever lah and I was in my lalaland for few days, malas hehe

    erk..that's so called beautiful creation = overstatement.. ;p TQ nway ;p

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  5. RC

    U made it !! aiseyman!! ai masih terkebil2 pikir bila nak buat...dude mintak dari so many uncountable moons dulu..harus jugak ai wat now kan..kesian kang member kempunan!

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  6. wow! cantiknya... i tahu for sure i will never make this cake... macam susah bangat nampak caranya..urghhh takut arrr :D

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  7. Pinggan siap di alas napkin...

    kamu perfectionist...!

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  8. RC
    Sampai hati biarkan kita duk meratap hiba sambil meleleh2 air liur :-)

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  9. alahai sedapppnya, teliur la tgk, mesti cuba & menguji kesabaran ni nak dok dapur lelama, byk step gak kan:)

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  10. AWWW!! this is our favorite cake. Looks so delicious. May I have a piece pretty please? hehe.... Have a great weekend my friend.

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  11. Kak Yat,

    Baik buat cepat hi hi.. nanti kempunan dia.. tak pun gi je swiss bakery beli ;p

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  12. Zarin,

    u boleh buat nyer lah.. sgt senang..buat jaconde dulu, besok baru buat the rest... kek lapis u boleh buat, ni kan kek ni.. ;p the only challenge I rasa is to make sure each layer ade same thickness.. I nyer comot ha ha

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  13. uncle gedek..tu mmg overstatement.. alas buat nak amik gambar je.. ;p

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  14. CS,

    I misssss uuuu..;p bole?

    Meh la naik flight dtg sini..kita spare some for u.. hi hi

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  15. Mamma Olyn,

    Yerp, byk steps..tp leh wat a day ahead.. ;) this cake mmg deem high amount of patience.. ;p letih tau kena sabar lama2 sbb I jenis yg tak sabar.. ;p

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  16. QPC,

    Thanks for dropping by!!! It means a lot to me hi hi.. Have a great weekend too!!! ;D

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  17. Great looking cake. I have yet to make this. I know I'll like it ...all that coffee and ganache ...mmmm

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  18. k Zurin,

    Thanks for stopping by ;) You'll definitely like it..give it a try! ;D

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  19. aiseyman...you beat me to it...i oso terkebil kebil dok baca when and how to start!

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  20. huh...coffee,mocha,chocolate,almondare all my favourite ingredients. It looks so so so good and Im literally drooling here. I know I will never ever do it, just looking down the methods, dah berpinau mata! hehehe...

    Let me know when u feel like taking orders k... ;-)

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  21. huh...coffee,mocha,chocolate,almondare all my favourite ingredients. It looks so so so good and Im literally drooling here. I know I will never ever do it, just looking down the methods, dah berpinau mata! hehehe...

    Let me know when u feel like taking orders k... ;-)

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  22. This is a spectacular looking cake. The diamond cute just adds to the dramatic presentation. I'll bet it was delicious!

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  23. Ni yang sebenarnya aku malas nak lepak kat blog ko.. ader je benda yang buat air liur meleleh.. hahaha.. By the way... layout yang dulu-dulu lagi best kot.. (ni opinion aku ajer).. Aku lama dah tak masak.. Kat semenanjung banyak kedai.. hahahaha.. Eh sebelum terlupa.. End of July aku pinda Tmn Kasa Heights.. so feel free untuk visit dengan tangan yang penuh dengan mana-mana recipe dari blog ni.. hahahaha.. aku memang tak malu

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