Showing off...opera cake

After conquering the french macarons last fall, I felt ready for a new classic culinary/pastry project and decided to try my hand at Gateau l'Opera.

These photos were from my second try. The first one, while tasty was not up to my "martha-stewart-disease" standards of beauty, so I decided to forego any photos.

Part of the problem with first one was making the error in trying to make the cake round, without actually owning a large round cake ring with which to slice it. Word to the wise...unless you're some sort of mathematical and samurai genius, it's almost impossible to cut a rectangle into a circle using only a hot chef's knife!

I used the recipe at this site (http://www.alacuisine.org/alacuisine/2004/10/opera_cake_1.html) and it worked perfectly, though after this and the macarons I really wish I could find almond flour that wasn't so danged EXPENSIVE! Grinding my own in the food processor seems to work just fine, but rather time-consuming. I only did one experimental modification to the finished cake and that was to do one layer with raspberry, rather than all with the almond buttercream.

This was also the first time I'd done a buttercream with hot (255 degree) sugar syrup and part of my issue is not having a saucepot small enough where my candy thermometer could register the temperature of the syrup. I definitely am liking the taste and texture of this buttercream over my go-to Wilton type, but it definitely takes a lot longer to make.

I guess that'd be the only downside here...from start to finish, this cake took almost 5 HOURS to make. Maybe some of that is just lack of practice, but there's a lot of waiting for things to set up and such. So, like the macarons...I'd suggest making it for those you REALLY love (or want to impress!)





(this is from the one with the raspberry filling in one layer)

That looks beautiful and delicious! I could use a piece of opera cake now.

tgoddess, that is just stunning.

That looks so good. Almost too good to eat but I'd snarf it up in a minute if it was offered to me.

Trader Joes - almond meal, 16 oz, around $4.00

I use it in a lot of gluten-free baking and I'd be bereft without it, not to mention much lighter in my pocketbook.

Oh, great looking cake, too.

Tgoddess - that is gorgeous. What do we need to pay you to join the montly LTH dessert exchange?

Trader Joes - almond meal, 16 oz, around $4.00

I use it in a lot of gluten-free baking and I'd be bereft without it, not to mention much lighter in my pocketbook

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I think this is ground whole almonds, not blanched almonds. They can leave a speckled appearance in the cake, if that is important.

Couple of ideas on grinding almonds although not sure if this is faster. One, you can grind them with some of the powdered sugar, which soaks up the oil and keeps them from clumping. Two, a book I use suggested for really fine ground almonds, pour the ground almonds from the processor through a sieve, and then regrind the residue from the sieve, which is more efficient than grinding the whole batch.

tgoddess wrote:I felt ready for a new classic culinary/pastry project and decided to try my hand at Gateau l'Opera.

TGoddess,

Beautiful, really beautiful.

Enjoy,
Gary

Thank you, everyone! And thanks for the double-grinding tip/advice. I hadn't thought to try that, but it might make things a LITTLE easier (in getting a finer, flour-like consistency to the ground almonds).

Is there really a "dessert exchange?" I'd be WAY into that!!!

Is there really a "dessert exchange?" I'd be WAY into that!!!

There is indeed a dessert exchange and we are also way into it! Check on the events thread. We just started it last month and I think April might be full already, but we'll be posting monthly about the next ones. I'm hosting for May. RSVP fast once the announcement goes up as they fill up pretty fast.

How fun! It does look like y'all are booked up for April...I'll see how May looks

Thanks!