French · Dessert · Hard
Opera Cake
Seven whisper-thin layers of almond sponge, espresso buttercream, and chocolate ganache under a mirror glaze. The tuxedo of cakes.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Opera Cake, in 5 ideas
- Thin layers are the point; spread the batter evenly with an offset spatula.
- Chilling between steps makes assembly clean instead of slippery.
- A hot dry knife wipes clean between cuts for razor-sharp slices.
- The cake improves overnight as the layers meld; make it a day ahead.
- Tradition calls for the word 'Opera' written in chocolate on top.
What you need
Ingredients
- 6 eggs plus 6 egg whites
- 1 1/4 cups almond flour
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup strong espresso, cooled
- 1/2 cup sugar syrup (equal parts sugar and water, boiled)
- 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
- 8 oz dark chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 oz dark chocolate plus 1 tbsp oil, for glaze
How to make it
Directions
- Heat the oven to 425F. Whip the eggs, whites, almond flour, powdered sugar, and flour until thick. Fold in melted butter.
- Spread thin on two parchment-lined sheet pans and bake 8 minutes. Cut each sheet into 3 rectangles for 6 layers.
- Brush each layer with espresso-spiked sugar syrup.
- Beat the softened butter with 1/2 cup cooled espresso into a buttercream.
- Layer: sponge, buttercream, sponge, ganache (chocolate melted with cream), repeating. Chill 4 hours.
- Pour the chocolate-oil glaze over the top, chill to set, and trim the edges for clean lines.
Money saver. Almond flour is cheapest in bulk bins or warehouse stores. It keeps for months in the freezer.