Opera Cake stacks up courage.

If there was one thing I had promised myself to bake for the longest time, it would have been an opera cake. I've been constantly talking about it, never brave enough to bake and assemble a cake like this. Not being very skillful in decorating cakes which was why I never really played with fondant, it really does test my patience. I could spend hours baking kek lapis but spreading layers of cream on a cake, decorating with ganache intimidates me.

I've never quite tasted an opera cake until Swee San made some for us during a very recent bloggers meeting. For the first time, surprising to say, I love the coffee buttercream and that thick thick ganache. The buttercream was silky smooth and melts in your mouth right away, I can't help but to lick the spoon clean while I was making it! It has got to be the best part of the entire cake!

Baking the joconde (almond sponge) layer has got to be the hardest part for me. I overwhipped the egg whites the first time and spent a dozen eggs trying to make things right!
The cake didn't take as long as I expected. All the baking, assembling, plus washing and cleaning could have only took me 2 hours plus to finish.

Opera Cake Recipe

(adapted from Choco Paris)

Joconde

50g icing sugar
20g plain flour
75g ground almond
3 eggs
15g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 egg whites
1 Tbsp caster sugar

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 220C.
2) Sift together icing sugar and plain flour. Add in ground almond.
3) Whisk whole eggs until ribbon stage (thick and slightly pale). Gradually whisk in sifted ingredients and ground almond. Fold in melted butter.
4) In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Add in sugar and whisk until stiff peak is obtained.
5) Gently fold in 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk batter.
6) Fold in the rest of the egg whites into the egg yolk batter.
7) Spread batter evenly into a 8 x 12inches (20 x 30cm) shallow baking pan lined with parchment paper.
8) Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, or until golden and springy when touched. Loosen the edges with a knife and carefully turn out onto a wire rack covered with a sheet of parchment paper. Allow to cool.

Chocolate Ganache

200g superior-quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
120ml milk
30ml whipping cream
80ml whipping cream (added at the very end, for the top ganache layer)
50g unsalted butter, softened

Method:

1) Place finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set aside.
2) Bring milk and 30ml cream to a boil. Pour the hot liquid onto the chocolate.
3) Wait 30 seconds, then add the butter and mix until smooth. Let cool until a spreadable consistency is obtained.

Coffee syrup

90ml water
1 ½ tablespoon sugar
1 ½ tablespoon instant coffee

Method:

1) Place sugar and water in a pan and stir until dissolved.
2) Bring to a boil and add coffee.

Butter cream

50g caster sugar
3 tsp water
1 egg white
1 Tbsp instant coffee
100g unsalted butter, softened

Method:

1) Place sugar and water in a heavy skillet and make a sugar syrup (stir until sugar is completely dissolved then boil, without stirring, until syrup reaches soft-ball stage, between 116 and 118 degrees C (214 ? 244 degrees F).
2) Beat the egg whites until soft peaks are obtained. Continue beating while incorporating the hot syrup. Beat until mixture is cold.
3) Dissolve instant coffee in 1 teaspoon of boiling water, cool and add to butter.
4) Add one half of the egg-white mixture and beat well, then gently fold in the remainder until well combined.


1) Using a sharp knife, divide the sponge into three equal sections and carefully peel off parchment paper from sections. Each should be 10 x 20 cm (4 x 8 inches).
2) Soak the first section with one-third of the coffee syrup, then spread over it half of the butter cream. Place the next section of sponge on top, then soak with coffee syrup and spread with half of the ganache.
3) Place the last section on top, soak with remaining syrup and spread with the rest of the butter cream, taking care to smooth the surface.
4) Chill until butter cream firmly set.
5) Melt the rest of the ganache over a pan of very hot water. Bring the remaining cream (80ml) to the boiling point and incorporate into ganache.
6) Allow to cool until a smooth, spreadable consistency is obtained and spread over top of cake.

Always being very indecisive, not knowing whether or not to do something because I fear. My best friend would say, "If you never risk, you'll never find out. And you might end up with much awful regret."

I guess in anything you do, and if it has already been decided, might as well make it right :)

So this was my second birthday cake. I'm happy with it although the sponge was still a little tough, and the layers weren't very neat. I should hope it gets better with practice!