LE OPERA CAKE:
cake:
5 egg whites
1 ¾ cups
ground almond
¾ cup sugar
5 whole eggs
½ cup all
purpose flour
pinch of
salt
2 tbsp.
melted butter
syrup:
½ cup boiling
water
1/3 cup
sugar
3 tbsp. rum
coffee buttercream:
1 egg +1 egg
yolk
½ cup
unsalted butter, softened
5 tsp. water
6 tbsp.
sugar
3 egg yolks,
lightly beaten
1 tbsp.
strong black coffee
½ tsp.
coffee extract, optional
chocolate ganache cream:
8 oz.
bittersweet chocolate pieces
2/3 cup
whipping cream
2 tbsp. rum
chocolate flakes to decorate
3 tbsp. sifted cocoa powder to dust
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch square
baking pan, line it with wax paper and grease the paper.
Set a large bowl over a pan of boiling water, making
sure bottom of bowl does not touch the water. Add 5 whole eggs and ½ cup sugar
and pinch of salt. Beat eggs until tripled in volume and very thick. Carefully
fold in flour, ground almonds and melted butter.
In another bowl, beat 5 egg whites until foamy,
gradually add in ¼ cup sugar, 2 tbsp. at a time, beating after each addition;
and continue beating until stiff. Fold egg whites into egg-almond mixture
carefully. Pour batter into prepared
pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until tested done. Remove cake from oven, cool
cake in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Then un-mould cake and peel off waxed
paper. Let cake cool completely.
To make syrup:
Pour ½ cup boiling water into the sugar in a bowl, stirring to dissolve
sugar. When cooled, add in the rum.
To make coffee cream: Work ½ cup butter into a paste.
In a saucepan over low heat, dissolve the sugar in water. As soon as sugar is
dissolved, raise heat to medium high and boil syrup until a candy thermometer
registers 250 degrees F. Sit bottom of
saucepan immediately in a pan of cold water to stop the cooking process. Carefully
pour this syrup into the egg yolks in a bowl. Beat this mixture with a wire
whip until it is completely cooled. Introduce butter into sugar-egg mixture bit
by bit, together with the strong coffee to make coffee cream; adding additional
coffee extract to it if desired
To make chocolate ganache cream: Heat cream in a
saucepan until boiling; put a ladle in it to prevent boiling over. Pour cream into
chocolate pieces in a bowl, stirring to melt chocolate. Stir in rum.
To assemble: Slice
the cake horizontally into 3 layers. Use a pastry brush to soak the first layer
with 1/3 of syrup; then spread coffee cream on top. Repeat the layering,
brushing and icing process with the 2nd piece of cake; then top it
with the top layer of cake. Soak this with the rest of syrup.
Sit the cake on a wire rack set in a large baking pan.
Pour chocolate ganache over the top and sides of the cake.
Cover sides of cake with chocolate flakes and sprinkle
cocoa powder over the top. Refrigerate cake for at least 3 hours before
serving.
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