Opera Cake
Recipe courtesy of Julianne Heath, Pastry Chef, The Country Club (Brookline, Mass.)
Ingredients
- Ingredients for the Coffee Buttercream:
- water - 128 gms.
- sugar - 511 gms.
- egg whites - 255 gms.
- butter - 596 gms.
- salt - 2 gms.
- coffee extract - 20 gms.
- Ingredients for the Almond Dacquoise:
- almond flour - 400 gms.
- egg whites - 400 gms.
- sugar - 350 gms.
- cream of tartar - 5 gms.
- Ingredients for the Chocolate Ganache:
- chocolate - 225 gms.
- butter - 100 gms.
- Ingredients for the Coffee Simple Syrup:
- sugar - 100 gms.
- water - 100 gms.
- coffee extract - 30 gms.
Instructions
Procedure for the Coffee Buttercream:
- Boil the water and sugar to 250°F to make a syrup.
- Whip egg whites and slowly add syrup.
- Whip to cool and add softened butter, salt and coffee extract.
Procedure for the Almond Dacquoise:
- Whip egg whites with sugar and cream of tartar to stiff peaks.
- Fold in almond flour.
- Place in 2 greased half sheet trays and smooth with an offset spatula.
- Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes.
Procedure for the Chocolate Ganache:
- Melt in a bain-marie and set aside to cool.
Procedure for the Coffee Simple Syrup:
- Add all ingredients to a pot and simmer until sugar dissolves.
Assembly:
- Take one almond dacquoise out of the half sheet tray and place on a cutting board.
- Use a pastry brush to lightly dab coffee simple syrup on the almond dacquoise.
- Spread 756 gms. of the coffee buttercream on top of almond dacquoise.
- Spead a thin layer of 162 gms. of chocolate ganache on the coffee buttercream that was spread on the dacquoise.
- Allow this to set. Depending on climate control, it may need to chill.
- Unmold the second tray of almond dacquoise and place on top.
- Repeat steps 2-5 on the new layer of the almond dacquoise.
- Cut into desired sizes.
