The Opera cake and its recipe have been around the world ! Created in 1955 by Cyriaque Gavillon of pastry Dalloyau, then taken over by Gaston Lenôtre famous visionary of French pastry, who recognized all the genius of this association of flavors. I invite you to discover the recipe of the opera and to master its secrets …
Opera cake
Ingredients
- 1,5 almond sponge cake sheets See almond sponge cake recipe
- 570 g buttercream See buttercream recipe
- liquid coffee extract
- 350 g dark chocolate 64% cocoa
- 150 g whole liquid cream
- 20 g grape seed oil
Coffee syrup :
- 25 cl water
- 200 g caster sugar
- 2 cups espresso coffee
- 5 cl cognac
Instructions
- Plan this cake in advance, as the different bases need to be done before you start assembling.
- Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. Continue with the syrup, in a saucepan pour the water and the espresso coffee, add the caster sugar, mix and bring everything to a boil.
- Then pour it into a container to let it cool. When it is cold, add the cognac before mixing.
- For the chocolate ganache, heat the liquid cream until it boils, then pour 150 g of melted chocolate over it. Mix and set aside.
- Make the Opera bottom with half a Joconde cookie sheet (20 cm X 28 cm), on which you spread 50 g of melted chocolate using a palette knife. Leave it to harden in the refrigerator.
- For the buttercream, keep a small portion (20 g) for decoration. Pour a teaspoon of liquid coffee extract into the other part of the buttercream and mix with a whisk.
- For the coffee, it’s a matter of taste and you can add coffee extract if you wish.
- Take the Joconde cookie sheet covered with chocolate, turn it over on a baking sheet covered with a sheet of baking paper.
- Soak this cookie Joconde abundantly with the coffee syrup using a brush. Soaking the cookie well is one of the secrets to succeed your Opera.
- Evenly spread half of the coffee buttercream on the Joconde cookie with a palette knife. Place a second layer of Joconde biscuit of the same size.
- Using a baking sheet or a wire rack, put pressure on the cookie to have a straight cake. Soak this cookie in the same way as before.
- Pour the chocolate ganache that you spread evenly over the entire surface using a palette knife. Place the last part of the Joconde cookie, which you also flatten and soak.
- Finally, spread the rest of the coffee buttercream on top using a palette knife. The surface of the cream should be as smooth as possible. Put the Opera in the fridge for 2 hours.
- For the glaze of the Opera, pour the oil into 100 g of melted and tempered chocolate (around 35 ° C) and mix using a spatula. You get a very fluid chocolate icing.
- Take the Opera out of the refrigerator, then pour all the chocolate glaze over the entire surface, which you immediately spread using a palette knife, as even as possible.
- Tap the baking sheet on the work surface to smooth the icing. Put the Opera back in the refrigerator to allow the chocolate icing to harden.
- Then, take the Opera out of the refrigerator, then cut the edges so that they are clean, using a knife dipped in hot water and wiped, which allows to heat the blade.
- Place the Opera on a presentation tray, using a palette knife that you slide between the baking paper and the Opera. The point of the chocolate bottom is found here !
- Make a baking paper cone which you fill with the plain butter cream left out at the start. Cut the tip of the cone using scissors.
- Traditionally, it’s time to write “Opera” and make a border around this great classic of French pastry.
The video is in French, but you can see the English subtitles.Remember to enable them in the YouTube settings.