Wednesday 28 May 2008

May 2008 Daring Bakers - Opéra Cake


Opéra Cake

It’s that time of the month again, Daring Baker time! My first year as a Daring Baker!! This months challenge was chosen by the co-founders Lis at La Mia Cusina and Ivonne at Cream Puffs In Venice together with two new members Fran at Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie and Shea at Whiskful. They chose a cake that any keen baker would have on their list of to-makes – Opera Cake, oh la la! The recipe is a mix of different layers and recipes from two fabulous cookbooks - Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets and Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty’s Chocolate Passion. I own both, but up until now had not cooked from either.


The syrup soaked sponge layers and buttercream.

Opéra Cake is a cake of many acts, and is indeed a bit of a performance, but this is not a negative comment, as I enjoyed making and then assembling the parts to make a big, rich and decadent pastry shop cake. The layers are joconde (almond sponge), syrup, butter cream, white chocolate mousse and white chocolate ganache. The flavouring was up to the individual baker, but the colours were to be pale and Springtime like. I chose a French liqueur to flavour mine, Framboise (raspberry). I forgot to put the melted butter on the joconde, but it still seemed fine without it - I was very relieved =)

In the process of being cut into slices. The glitter was really over the top - just the yellow sugar was more elegant!

I decorated with pink edible glitter to reflect the Frambroise and yellow sugar crystals so that it would be yellow as well in keeping with the suggested dedication of this post to Barbara, who has worked so hard with her Taste of Yellow (in support of) LiveSTRONG Foundation cancer events. Here’s to you Barbara!


Yum yum!

Thanks to Lis, Ivonne, Fran and Shea for a fun challenge. As always if you’d like to see more Daring Baker Opéra Cake posts click to blogroll link here – I will be!

37 comments:

Anne said...

Excellent job, it looks really good! :)

Dharm said...

Well Done! I like your "Opéra Cake is a cake of many acts, and is indeed a bit of a performance". It's true. It is a bit of a performance but such an enjoyable performance!

Peabody said...

Job well done...looks great as usual.

Gemma said...

Looks great, I keep meaning to join you daring bakers but truthfully I'm a little scared!

Gemma x

KJ said...

Fantastic, Kelly Jane. I have never seen edible glitter here. It looks fab. I did exactly the same thing and forgot the butter. I managed to catch it in time, but it seems like I shouldn't have bothered.

hungryandfrozen said...

Oh that looks gorgeous! There's nothing quite like layer cakes, is there? I so want some glitter :)

Anonymous said...

Glitter goes well with the Opera, I think. Great job!

Cannelle Et Vanille said...

Great cake with the glitter!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Your Opera Cake looks spectacular Kelly-Jane. It was even dressed to the nines in glitter for the event:D

Anonymous said...

beautiful cake- i love the sparkling sprinkles!

Jenny said...

What would a star be without some glitter? Glad yours will not have to find out.

breadchick said...

I love how the white chocolate was just about rolling off the edge! Great job.

Deborah said...

I love the glitter! Gorgeous!

Helene said...

Lip smacking gorgeous! I love the raspberry liqueur and the pink sprinkles together :)

Christine said...

Your Opera Cake looks great! I love the glitter!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Love the glitter -- makes the cake look so dramatic!

Elle said...

What a sweet and pretty cake with the pink and yellow on top...and raspberry for flavor. MMMmmmmm.

Dolores said...

The glitter's a glamorous touch for a truly celebratory cake. Great job!

Rosie said...

Congrats K.J. on your 1st year of D.B!! I just adore your cake and all those wonderful sprinkles on - beautiful as always :)

Rosie x

Shelby said...

Very pretty! I love the glitter!

maybelles mom said...

glitter queen of a cake. bravo.

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Kelly-Jane this is a wonderful looking cake. Great job!

JillyB said...

Mmmm, white chocolate and raspberry! What a stunning combination for a stunning cake. Well done!

Lisa said...

K-J, that is so beautiful!! Well done!
Oh, if only I could have a taste.
L. xoxo

Gretchen Noelle said...

Raspberry - yum! I forgot my melted butter also and actually poured the batter back into the bowl to mix it all in! Ha! Oh and the glitter, lovely!

Shari@Whisk: a food blog said...

Raspberry flavoring sounds good!
Shari@Whisk: a food blog

Maria♥ said...

Kelly this looks gorgeous, I love the pink glitter ;o)

Maria
x

Barbara said...

Great idea to use Framboise. I really like how you decorated the top. Great job!

Maggie said...

The cake looks truly amazing. Well done!

Unknown said...

Next time I make the cake, I'm going to have to leave out the butter. Several people accidentally did that and all have said it was fine without! Why use it if it doesn't really change anything. Great job on your cake!!!

giz said...

Great job on the Opera cake. I love the hint of pink in it - makes it very special.

Anonymous said...

Lovely pics!

Nora B. said...

Love that pink glitter! All dressed up and elegant - a terrific cake, Kelly-jane.

Thinking About Food said...

Kelly that looks sooooo good! Well done on completing the challenge, I am dying to give this recipe a go!

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks delicious! I love the way the top layer kinda oozes over in one of the photos, makes it look so good. Congrats on a great job!

creampuff said...

It looks just fabulous ... your top layer looks so creamy. Now I want opéra cake!

Archana Doshi said...

Looks so perfect. COuld I have some. BTW, I am hosting a ONE DISH MEAL EVENT, I would love for you to participate. The details for the event are in my site.