“Opera” (cake) is one of the symbols of French confectionery craftsmanship, no less famous and revered than Tarte Taten, eclairs and endless milfies. The symbiosis of the main notes of this dessert gave the world an amazingly harmonious taste, which over the years does not become less in demand.
History of occurrence
This cake is an irreplaceable hit of culinary art; at least one million Oper are sold worldwide in a year!
The Opera cake appeared (photo - in the article) in 1955 by Patisserie Dalloyau, however, it was initially coated with white glaze. Such a performance did not find a response from the public. The time for dessert came when he changed his appearance to black. The combination of resilient almond biscuit, chocolate ganache, butter coffee cream, impregnation and glossy glaze created a sensation among the spoiled public. At the same time, not everyone could afford these cakes - prices were formed at a discount not only on a high-quality product, but also on demand.
Over time, the popularity of "Opera" has grown so much that they began to copy it. Dalloy Confectionery has almost lost copyright.
After 5 years, the world-famous confectioner Gaston Lenotre released his own “opera” dessert in his establishment, positioning it as an author's recipe.
For 28 years, the dessert was dragged from side to side, and only in 1988 the battle was over. Lenotre gave up and no longer claimed that the cake was made according to his recipe, even though he considered it the most successful.
Today, every self-respecting confectioner prepares a dessert, bringing something of his own. In this article we will consider the Opera cake (original recipe) and variations from modern pastry chefs.
Fine to the masses!
At first glance, the recipes of homemade cakes are similar in level to the modeling of sand cakes, if you compare them with the principle of creating the Opera, however, adhering to the recipe exactly, you can achieve an excellent result.
The composition of the dessert was indicated earlier, here is a more detailed layout:
- Gioconda almond biscuit. Thanks to the presence of oil and nuts, it turns out to be juicy, flexible and at the same time airy.
- Chocolate ganache based on dark chocolate. Dairy in the classic recipe is excluded! It is a high% of cocoa beans that gives the desired taste, deep and rich.
- Oily coffee cream. Forget the heavy margarine roses that come to mind with the word “buttery”. He is gentle, melting and unobtrusive.
- Saturated impregnation with an admixture of aromatic alcohol.
So, the cake is step by step.
Biscuit:
- almond flour - 226 grams;
- icing sugar - 226 grams;
- eggs - 6 pcs.;
- proteins - 6 pcs.;
- sugar - 26 grams;
- butter - 34 grams;
- bitter chocolate - 80 grams.
Oil cream with coffee:
- yolks - 7 pcs.;
- sugar - 220 grams;
- vanilla pod seeds;
- water - 70 grams;
- butter - 350 grams;
- coffee extract (in extreme cases, very strong brewed coffee) - 30 grams.
Ganache:
- dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa - 400 grams;
- cream with a fat content of at least 33% - 100 grams;
- milk - 100 grams;
- sugar - 50 grams;
- butter - 50 grams.
Impregnation:
- water - 600 grams;
- vanilla - 1 pod;
- sugar - 600 grams;
- aromatic alcohol (rum, cognac) - 40 grams;
- coffee extract (in extreme cases, very strong brewed coffee) - 30 grams.
Glaze:
- neutral glaze - 400 grams;
- cream with a fat content of at least 33% - 150 grams;
- dark chocolate - 200 grams.
Neutral Glaze:
- sugar - 400 grams;
- water - 300 grams;
- gelatin - 16 grams.
Process
Despite the abundance of components, the process of creating a cake is quite simple, the most important thing is to decide on the sequence of actions:
- syrup for impregnation;
- ganache;
- neutral glaze;
- biscuit;
- cream;
- assembly.
For impregnation, cut the vanilla pod in half, throw it in water with sugar. Simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved.
Remove from heat, add coffee extract (or coffee) and alcohol.
Cover the syrup container and set aside. And don’t be afraid of the amount of liquid - “Opera”, a cake and a confectionery legend part-time, will take everything.
In order to prepare a neutral glaze, soak the gelatin in cold water until it swells.
Boil water with sugar, remove from heat and add squeezed gelatin, stir until completely dissolved. If you use powdered, not sheet gelatin, take part of the water from the recipe for soaking so as not to exceed the total amount of liquid.
To make ganache, mix milk, cream and sugar. Heat the mixture over low heat until it becomes homogeneous, without sugar crystals.
Melt the chocolate in a water bath, then fill it with hot creamy syrup. Stir until completely homogeneous.
Cool the chocolate mass to 60 ° C, add soft butter and mix again. To get a "silk" texture, you can walk through the mass with a blender. Tighten the ganache bowl with cling film, pressing it directly to the surface, and set it aside until needed. Not in the fridge! It is important to correctly and beautifully assemble the Opera cake (original recipe), so the ganache should be plastic.
For the Gioconda almond biscuit, first cover with baking paper.
Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.
Combine wheat flour, almond flour and icing sugar, sift twice. Begin adding eggs to the nut-sugar mass, beat for 10 minutes.
Melt the butter. An “opera” (cake) should consist of a delicate biscuit, and due to fat the mass may fall. To avoid this, first add a third of the nut dough into the hot oil until smooth, and then add everything to the main mixture.
Beat whites with sugar, mix in the egg-almond mass.
Spread the dough on a baking sheet. Important! The layer should be thin - 8-10 mm - and uniform.
Bake for 10 minutes (approximate period and depends on the oven). The finished sponge cake is pale golden, soft and flexible.
Cool completely on the wire rack and cut out three rectangles of the same size. If the size of the pan does not allow this, then bake a biscuit in three sets.
Melt chocolate (80 grams) in a water bath.
Turn one of the rectangles with the porous side down and grease the surface of the biscuit with chocolate. Put in the refrigerator to freeze the coating. Thanks to this measure, the impregnation will not spill, and the Opera cake, the recipe of which we give you, will not disappoint.
Now it's the turn of the cream.
Beat egg yolks until lush white. Cook the syrup from water and sugar, and as soon as it begins to boil thoroughly, pour into the yolks, without stopping whipping. The output should be a thick, airy mass of cream color.
While continuing to whisk, add soft butter in portions. It should turn out a smooth, thick, silky cream. Now add the coffee extract (or coffee), vanilla and whisk again until smooth.
Finally, the assembly of the Opera dessert. It is recommended to collect the cake in the form or frame - so it will turn out more even.
The first layer is the bottom cake, put it with a chocolate layer down, and then soak in the finished syrup. Wait a couple of minutes and soak again.
Put half of the coffee-oil cream on top, carefully align.
Place the following cake on the cream, soak again twice.
Flatten the whole ganache on a biscuit.
Put the last cake on top, soak.
Put the remaining cream, smooth. The surface should be as smooth as possible.
Place the resulting cake in the freezer for half an hour.
To make the icing, melt the chocolate in a water bath or microwave.
Bring the cream to a boil and add them to the liquid chocolate, mix thoroughly.
Warm neutral glaze a little and add to chocolate-cream mass. Achieve complete homogeneity. Do not whisk!
Strain the resulting glaze through a fine sieve.
Cool the mass to 35 ° C and fill it with cake. The classic Opera cake, the recipe of which we are considering, has a perfectly smooth glaze, so don’t touch it and let it spread on the cream surface on your own - it will lie as evenly as possible. Put in a cool place for several hours.
Walk with a sharp thin object on the sides of the frame from the inside, "freeing" the cake.
After that, with a dry heated knife, evenly remove 5-7 mm from the edges of the cake - thanks to this measure, all the inner layers of the dessert will become visible.
For decoration, you can write the word “Opera” on melted chocolate on a smooth surface of the cake and decorate with pieces of edible gold.
Cut into portioned slices is also recommended with a dry hot knife.
Subtleties
In order for the cake to make a splash, you should adhere to the following points:
- "Opera" is a cake that should be low. The maximum height is 4 cm. This is due to the fact that its taste is thick, saturated, and thin layers will allow to perceive the entire composition of shades most fully. Of course, this goes against the "rich" high cakes inherent in the American pastry school, but still the effect is worth it.
- Each coat must be well cooled before applying the next. This is necessary for uniformity, which affects the taste, and to maintain visual layering.
- Serve the cake in small pieces, as it is very satisfying. If guests eat “through power”, the overall effect will be blurred, despite the quality of the product.
Alternatives
As mentioned earlier, many pastry chefs place Opera cake in their professional portfolio, the recipe of which may be very different from the original one. Consider several options from contemporary masters of Russia and Europe, which found the greatest response from the public.
"Opera" by Alexander Seleznev
The Russian confectioner Alexander Seleznev is loved by the public, since under his leadership you can reproduce the most exquisite desserts without leaving your home kitchen, and this applies to both all the usual delicacies according to GOST, and sophisticated French sweets. To make the Opera cake from Seleznev, you will need the following products:
Biscuit:
- eggs - 4 pcs.;
- proteins - 8 pcs.;
- wheat flour - 80 grams;
- butter - 30 grams;
- ground hazelnuts - 130 grams;
- sugar - 200 grams;
- salt - 1 large pinch.
Ganache:
- cream with a fat content of at least 33% - 320 ml;
- yolks - 2 pcs.;
- butter - 30 grams;
- black chocolate - 32 grams.
Impregnation:
- instant coffee - 4 tsp;
- water - 200 ml;
- sugar - 200 grams.
Oil cream with coffee:
- yolks - 4 pcs.;
- instant coffee - 4 tsp;
- butter - 400 grams;
- milk - 120 ml;
- brown sugar - 110 grams.
Glaze:
- black chocolate - 150 grams;
- flavourless vegetable oil - 20 ml.
And again the process
The technology for preparing this author's treats is simpler than the original, but still leaves behind the usual recipes for homemade cakes, and therefore a beginner should strictly adhere to the instructions.
For biscuit, preheat the oven to 210 and line the cake mold with baking paper.
Beat 4 eggs and 120 grams of sugar until fluffy, airy. Add nut flour, knead until smooth.
Beat whites with salt separately until a firm foam. While continuing to beat, add the remaining sugar. The foam should become glossy and not fall off the whisk.
Add the proteins to the nut mass, sift the flour on top and knead everything from the bottom up, keeping the dough airy.
Melt the butter and gently stir into the dough.
Put a third of the egg-nut mass into a mold, carefully level and bake for 6-7 minutes.
Cook two more cakes in the same way.
For syrup, boil water with sugar, add instant coffee and knead until smooth.
To cook ganache, heat the cream over low heat and melt the chocolate in them. Remove the mass from the heat and, stirring vigorously, add the butter and yolks.
For cream, boil milk with coffee and sugar. Beat the yolks separately and pour in the hot milk and coffee mass.
Place the resulting mixture in a water bath and cook until thickened, constantly stirring.
Remove the resulting coffee cream from the water bath while continuing to whisk until the mixture cools.
Yes, when it comes to making cake from classic French cuisine, be prepared for the challenges.
Beat butter until fluffy separately. Continuing to whisk, add the custard coffee cream in parts.
For the glaze, melt the chocolate in a water bath and add vegetable oil.
The assembly of the cake is the same as in the first embodiment.
Cake "Opera" from Lisa Glinsky. Add lightness?
No less successful is this version of the world dessert performed by Elizabeth. "Opera" comes out very juicy, but at the same time airy. For her, you need to take:
Biscuit:
- eggs - 5 pcs.;
- sugar - 160 grams;
- flour - 90 grams;
- toasted hazelnut flour - 70 grams;
- bitter chocolate - 50 grams.
Cream:
- eggs - 2 pcs.;
- medium fat milk - 350 ml;
- sugar - 5 tbsp. spoons;
- starch (preferably corn) - 4 tbsp. spoons;
- strong coffee - 60 ml;
- bitter chocolate - 75 grams;
- medium fat milk - 60 ml;
- gelatin in granules - 15 grams;
- cream with a fat content of at least 33% - 500 ml.
Impregnation:
- strong coffee - 200 ml;
- dark sugar - 100 grams;
- aromatic alcohol to taste - 30 ml.
Ganache:
- dark chocolate - 75 grams;
- cream with a fat content of at least 33% - 60 grams.
Glaze:
- dark chocolate - 200 grams;
- cream with a fat content of at least 33% - 80 grams;
- water - 60 grams;
- liquid glucose - 2 tbsp. spoons.
Process
Preheat the oven to 170 ° C and cover a baking sheet with a size of at least 35 * 50cm with baking paper.
Separate the whites and yolks.
Separately, whisk the whites and yolks with sugar until fluffy, dividing the latter in half.
Add the sifted flour with ground nuts and a third of the whipped whites to the yolks. Gently knead until smooth by folding. Add the remaining proteins, knead again.
Don't be scared of the details. Cook the cake once, following the instructions step by step in order to fill your hand.
Put the dough on a baking sheet, smooth over the entire surface.
Bake for 15-18 minutes before testing for a “dry toothpick”.
Cool the resulting biscuit and cut it into 4 equal rectangles.
For cream, mix sugar, starch and eggs until smooth.
Separately, bring the milk (350 ml) to a boil in a stewpan and pour the egg-starch mass into it, stirring vigorously. Pour everything back into the saucepan, cook on the smallest fire, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and cool completely.
Pour 2 teaspoons of gelatin with cold coffee, let it swell and heat over low heat until it dissolves. Do not boil! This advice, by the way, is universal - regardless of what kind of recipe you are studying, trying to figure out how to make a cake.
Add half the brewed custard to the coffee mixture.
Whip the cream until a strong peak. Add half to the coffee custard and mix gently while maintaining airiness.
Melt the chocolate.
Soak the remaining gelatin in cold milk (60 ml), let it swell and slightly warm, achieving complete dissolution of the gelling element.
Blend the second half of the custard with chocolate and milk mixture until smooth. Gently stir in the cream.
For ganache, finely chop the chocolate, pour it with boiling milk and stir until a homogeneous paste. Allow to cool.
To make the glaze, mix all the liquid ingredients and bring to a boil. Chop the chocolate and add to the mixture, whisk with a mixer until smooth glaze. Chill.
To soak, boil coffee with sugar, add alcohol. Chill.
The final assembly.
Melt the chocolate for the biscuit, spread it on the side of one of the biscuits. Let it cool completely - this will be the base of the cake.
Put the biscuit with the chocolate side down, soak.
Place half of the coffee cream on top, flatten.
Place the next cake on top, soak abundantly again.
Spread ganache on top, put half of the chocolate cream on top of it.
Put the third cake on top, soak again.
Place the remaining coffee cream on top, squeeze the last cake. Soak.
Smudge the rest of the chocolate cream over the surface of the biscuit to achieve maximum smoothness. Place in a freezer for at least 2-3 hours.
Warm a little icing and pour it with a cake. That's all! Cake "Opera" from Lisa Glinsky is ready.
Classic in a modern French way
Speaking of the cult dessert of France, it would be strange not to mention the variations from modern pastry chefs that are created on the territory of this country. Popular, for example, the work of Christophe Felder. There is no need to paint his recipe in detail, since it is extremely similar to the classic, but there are also differences - the addition of Italian meringue to oil cream and a beautiful glaze with a delicate aftertaste of nuts:
For meringue (for the same amount of cream):
- water - 40 grams;
- sugar - 100 grams;
- protein - 70 grams;
- sugar - 25 grams.
For glaze:
- dark chocolate - 400 grams;
- coconut oil - 50 grams;
- peanut butter - 50 grams.
Mix water and 100 grams of sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved.
In parallel, beat the whites with the remaining sugar until soft peaks. Pour in boiling syrup without stopping whipping. The mass will increase in size. Cool the mass and mix in the cream. With this measure, Christophe Felder’s Opera cake will become less bold and more airy.
To make the icing, grind the chocolate, melt it with coconut and peanut butter. Cool until warm and fill the cake.