OPERA

On the occasion of my mom's birthday I baked her favorite opera cake.
A classic and refined dessert, one of the emblematic jewels of French pastry.
Thanks to chef Christophe Felder for his wonderful recipe.

✔ INGREDIENTS
✔For the Mona Lisa biscuit, you would need:
⧫ 220g of eggs
⧫ 80g egg yolks
⧫ 220g of ground almonds
⧫ 175g of caster sugar
⧫ 125g egg whites
⧫ 100g of sugar
⧫ 100g of flour
✔For the icing you would need:
⧫ 400 g of dark chocolate
⧫ 50g of oil
✔For the syrup you would need:
⧫ 40cl of filter coffee
⧫ 150g of caster sugar
⧫10g of soluble coffee
✔ For the ganache you would need:
⧫175g dark chocolate
⧫120g of milk
⧫40g of liquid cream
✔ For the Buttercream you would need:
⧫40g of water
⧫100g of sugar
⧫70g of egg whites
⧫25g of caster sugar
For 1 kg of buttercream you would need:
⧫5 egg yolks
⧫240g of caster sugar
⧫100g of water
⧫360g of soft butter

✔ Preparation of the joconde biscuit
➤ Whisk the egg yolks with the 175 g of sugar and the almond powder for 15 min.
➤ Beat the egg whites with 100 g of sugar.
➤ Gently incorporate the egg whites into the previous preparation with a spatula, then delicately add the sifted flour.
 ➤ Distribute 1/3 of the dough on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.
➤ Bake at 180ºC for 10 minutes.
➤ Repeat the operation two more times with the rest of the dough. Let cool before using.

✔ Ganache
 ➤ Chop the chocolate, then heat the milk and cream, pour the hot liquid in three batches over the chocolate then stir in a circular swirl pattern, until a homogeneous consistency is obtained, add the butter and set aside.

✔ The syrup
➤ Mix all the ingredients and let stand until use.

✔Buttercream preparation
➤ Start by making the Italian meringue.
➤ In a saucepan, place the water and 100g of caster sugar to heat over low heat to prepare the cooked sugar. Bring to a boil up to 118 ° C.
➤ As soon as the thermometer indicates 114 ° C, whip the egg whites, "bird's beak" with the 25g of caster sugar and turn your mixer at full speed.
➤ When the sugar reaches 118 ° C, pour it gently over the whipped egg whites.
➤ Leave to run at medium speed until it cools down (about 10 minutes).
➤ Reserve the meringue in a container.

✔Preparation of buttercream.
➤ Briskly whisk the egg yolks using an electric mixer.
➤ In a saucepan, cook the caster sugar and water at 118 ° C, then pour this syrup over the slightly whisked yolks.
➤ Beat briskly: the mixture whitens and forms a ribbon.
➤ Work the soft butter with a mixer until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous cream.
➤ Add the egg yolk preparation to the whipped butter.
➤ Mix everything with a mixer at low speed to obtain a light texture, then incorporate the cold Italian meringue.
Mix gently with a mixer.

✔ Assembly
➤ Cut the cookies to the size of the frame.
Put a sheet of baking paper on the presentation dish.
➤ Place the frame.
➤ Place a cookie sheet and soak it with 1/3 of the coffee syrup. Put half of the buttercream, spread it well with a spatula.
Place a cookie sheet and soak it with 1/3 of the coffee syrup.
➤Put the ganache, spread it well with a spatula.
➤ Place the last cookie sheet and soak it with the rest of the coffee syrup.
➤ Add the rest of the buttercream, spread it well with a spatula.
➤ Place in the refrigerator for a good hour

✔ Icing
➤ Put the chocolate and the oil in a saucepan and gently melt in a double boiler.
➤ Pour the icing on the cake, still smooth with a spatula and refrigerate for at least an hour.
➤ To cut it, take a plastic plate to hold the side of the cake by holding it vertically and cut it with a knife also vertically going towards the plastic plate, so we do not crush it.

♦Tip: You can freeze the opera perfectly. Let it thaw for 1 hour in the refrigerator before tasting.
✔For decoration, watch the video on my YouTube channel 😉😉