A Night at the Opera
Rebecca May 28th, 2008
I’m sure I audibly gulped when I learned the Daring Bakers‘ May challenge. Opera cake. If you click on that link and read the recipe it looks overwhelming. It’s six layers of pure decadence: almond cake soaked in a flavored syrup, buttercream frosting, rich ganache and a chocolate glaze. There was a hitch, though. We could not use the traditional complementary flavors of chocolate and coffee. Instead, we had to choose something light in both flavor and color, something that went with the season, something that said, with a great big “mmmmm…”, spring.
I made a strawberry and lemon opera cake.
I didn’t make my cake all in one day. I worked on one or two of the layers over four evenings. The first night, I sliced four pints of strawberries. I then added the juice and zest of one Meyer lemon and 2/3 of a cup of sugar to the berries. The resulting tart strawberry juice became the base for my syrup and glaze two days later. Then I made a lemon buttercream; in place of espresso powder and a vanilla bean, I used the zest and juice of another Meyer lemon to flavor the frosting. The buttercream did not thicken right away. Until I refrigerated it over night and re-beat it in a chilled stainless steel bowl I had quite a bit of lemon curd.
The joconde–almond cake–looks tricky, but so long as you have the right tools (two mixing bowls, two jelly roll pans, plenty of eggs, almond meal) it’s a breeze. I would make it again as part of another dessert. If it’s sturdy enough, it would make a great holiday treat: a jelly roll filled with chestnut cream and topped with chocolate ganache.
Believe it or not, assembly was a snap. As part of the Daring Baker challenge, we were allowed to save some money and time and omit the second layer from the top, a chocolate mousse or ganache. I took them up on this and divided my buttercream frosting into thirds. I soaked each layer of joconde in the strawberry lemon juice I made earlier in the week, evenly spread a thin layer of lemon buttercream on top of the cake, dotted the frosting with the sliced strawberries, and repeated these steps until I had three alternating layers of strawberry lemon goodness. The last layer of a traditional opera cake is a chocolate glaze. To the remainder of the strawberry lemon juice I added a packet of gelatin. This homemade strawberry lemon jello became my glaze. While it was still in a liquid state, I carefully spooned it on top of my opera cake.
I’m sure you’re wondering, “So? How’s the cake?” Well…
It was so good I had to get it out of the house. After I had a slice or two myself, of course.
- Daring Bakers , Desserts , Food , Recipes
- Comments(21)
my cake, meanwhile, was a disaster.
the oven and i are no longer on terms with one another.
Your cake looks yummy.
Yum! Your flavor combination looks fantastic - I LOVE strawberries!
I love the glaze. The pictures are so pretty! Strawberry/lemon is one of my favorite flavor combinations!
Yum your cake looks so good. I really wish I had of omitted the ganache too because mine was far too rich (due to it being like a slab of overly creamy white chocolate across the top) and you said yours was light and summery. Great work!!
That strawberry glaze looks so good! I also had to get my cake out of the house posthaste (I dropped it off at my daughter’s school as soon as I was done taking pictures!)
Nice job! The strawberry glaze looks very delicious!
I agree, the different components definitely must be made on different days to avoid baking overload!
What a neat idea, making a gelatine glaze. I love strawberries and lemon… or any berries and lemon. Great job.
Your cake looks so pretty! The lemon and strawberry combination would be just right too. I wish I had made a glaze like yours. The white chocolate was just too much.
Great job! I like your use of a strawberry glaze- I put a raspberry glaze on mine…
Lovely strawberry lemon flavour combination! I love the glaze on top
Bravissimo!!
Thanks for all the nice comments, ladies!
Your cake looks yummy!
Thanks for leaving a comment. Your opera cake looks delightful. Strawberry lemonade is one of my favourite summer drinks, I bet it’s even better in cake.
Nice job! Strawberry and lemon practically scream warm weather don’t they?
Strawberries sound absolutely delish - bet it tasted great! I wish I’d gone with a fruit flavour, great way to cut through all that sweetness
Strawberry and lemon, YUM! Great job!
This sounds wonderful - I love any berry, and I’ve been chowing down on strawberries this spring. Great cake!
Strawberry and meyer lemon sound heavenly!
Shari@Whisk: a food blog
Strawberry and lemon–yum. I love the look of the glaze dripping over the cake. Deeeeelish!
[…] to have around when PMS strikes. Next, I used more of the almond meal I bought for May’s opera cake challenge. Instead of three cake layers, I only made two. I left out the whipped cream entirely. To […]