Baking partners challenge for this month is a french pastry cake also known as opera cake.Opera cake is made with layers of almond sponge cake also known as 'jaconde' in French.The jaconde is soaked in coffee syrup and the layers are alternated with coffee butter cream and chocolate glaze.This recipe was suggested by Savitha @Savitha's Kitchen and is inspired from here.The cake requires lot of efforts to put in to make but its all worth the efforts.The almond sponge should be liberally soaked in coffee syrup.I haven't mentioned any preparation time for the cake as I prepared the cake in two phases.You can even prepare this cake in three phases/three days.I made the almond sponge on first day and then made the remaining butter cream,coffee syrup,ganache and glaze the following day.The cake was really soft melt in mouth texture with coffee flavor and all loved it.Kids have demanded to make it again.Th sides should be trimmed off the excess chocolate which I omitted as kids wanted the chocolate covered piece.The first pic is the original look of the pastry without chocolate covered on the sides.The original recipe was double the measures but I made half the cake and have mentioned the half cake recipe measures.When you have everything ready at hand,then its easy to assemble.This is a perfect dessert for any occasions.Hope you understood the reason behind my post of blanched almonds,almond flour just before this post.Try and enjoy for your loved ones !!
Serves ~6 pieces
Ingredients
For the Almond Sponge (Joconde)
egg whites 3,at room temperature
granulated white sugar 1/2oz/14 g /1 1/8tablespoon
blanched almonds 4 oz / 3/4 cups
powdered sugar 1/2 cup /113g(sieved )
large eggs 3
all purpose flour 1/4 cup+ 2 tsp
clarified butter 1.5 tablespoon (melted )
vanilla extract 3/4 tsp
For French Coffee Buttercream
coffee powder 1tbsp
boiling water 1 tsp
egg yolks 3
granulated sugar 1/2 cup(113gms)
water 1/8 cup
unsalted butter(at room temp,just pressed down on touch) 1/2 pound/250g/2 sticks
vanilla extract 1 tsp
For Ganache
bittersweet Chocolate 4 oz/150g
heavy cream 4 oz/ 1/2 cup
For Coffee flavored syrup
granulated sugar 1/4 cup
water 1/2 cup
instant coffee powder 1.5 tbsp
For Tempered Chocolate
semi sweet chocolate 3 oz/ 100g
unsalted butter 1 oz 2 tablespoon
Method
Making of Joconde(Almond Sponge)
Melt the butter in microwave. Let it cool. Powder the sugar in a blender and ieve the powdered sugar well ,without any lumps.Make the almond flour as mentioned in this link,using blanched almonds. Pre heat the oven 425 F. Grease a 12"* 8" sheet pan or regular pan with melted butter.Cut parchment paper exactly to the size of the pan.If it is too long, it may make the corners jagged.Now take a mixing bowl ad add the eggs(at room temp). To the eggs, add sieved powdered sugar. Start whisking the eggs with the sugar,till it becomes pale yellow color.The sugar should have been incorporated well with the eggs.The mixture would have increased in volume.Now,add the powdered almonds and all purpose flour to the egg mixture. The mix should not have any lump.
Separate the egg whites from egg yolk.Reserve the egg yolk in refrigerator until use for making butter cream.
While the almond mixture is incorporating , lets prepare the meringue.Take a grease free,oil free glass bowl or stainless steel bowl.Beat the egg whites, till it reaches soft peak. Now add the granulated sugar and beat again, till it reaches stiff peak. Don't over beat the meringue ,then it may become flat. Now fold the meringue into the almond mixture in 3 batches(remember to only fold in the meringue else the cake will become flat,no over mixing).Finally,add melted butter and vanilla extract to the batter. Now our batter is ready.
Grease the parchment paper with melted butter again. Pour the batter into the pan and spread it using a spatula. Take care to spread the batter on the corners. Corners are the culprits for not getting even sized sponge. Bake the sponge for 5 - 7 mins ,or untill the sponge is springy to the touch(don't over bake,then the sponge will become hard).Turn the sponge over a parchment paper and let it cool. Once one side is cooled,turn it over and peel the parchment paper and let the other side cool completely. <b id="docs-internal-guid-