Ingredients
200g finely ground almond
100g caster sugar
6 eggs
50g butter, melted
60g all purpose flour
115g egg whites
55g confectioner sugar - i used caster sugar
Methods
-Preheat oven to 200C.. Prepare two pans (20 x 20 cm), greased and lined with baking paper.
-In a large bowl combine ground almond, caster sugar and 3 eggs, beat at high speed for 10 minutes, scraping often.
-Add remaining eggs one at a time, continue to beat for another 10 minutes.
Stir in 4 tbsp of almond mixture into melted butter and mix till well combined, set aside.
-Add sifted flour to the remaining almond mixture, mix well... put aside
In another bowl, beat egg whites til foamy, add sugar gradually and continue to beat until soft peaks formed.
-Take 1/3 of egg white and pour into almond mixture and mix it gently.. pour back almond mixture into the remaining 2/3 egg white mixture and continue to fold in gently.. don't over mix.
-Divide and spread into prepared pans, bake both pans at once for 20 min in 175C. Cool completely, remove from pans, discard paper and slice it into total 4 layers.
Coffee Syrup:
100 ml hot brewed espresso - u can of cos use 15g of instant coffee with 100ml hot water
100 g sugar
Mocha buttercream
100 g egg whites
200 g sugar
300 g unsalted butter - cubed and chilled and let it out once u start to whip ur egg white/sugar
1/2 tbsp mocha paste
1 tsp coffee oil - u can use coffee essence/flavor if u cant find coffee oil
Chocolate Ganache
200 g dark chocolate compound
200 g milk chocolate compound - i used a mixture of 70%, 64% and 55%)
75 g unsalted butter
250 ml fresh cream - i used double cream
Method
Coffee Syrup:
Mix all ingredients, stirring until sugar dissolves. Set aside.
Mocha butter cream:
1. Using double boiler.. heat egg white and sugar till sugar dissolved - use your thermometer ok.. heat till 65C..
2. Pour egg white mixture into your mixing bowl and whisk using high speed till mixture turns glossy.. add in cubed butter one at a time and continue to beat till its slightly fluffy.. (butter cream texture)
3. Add in coffee oil, mocha paste and 50ml of coffee syrup into butter cream.. stir till well combined.. set aside
Chocolate Ganache:
1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces.
2. Heat cream until warm. Remove from heat and pour it over chocolate.. let it sit for 5 min and stir
3. Add in butter and continue to stir well again.
4. Put it aside till it thickens.
Assembling
There are various way to assemble Opera, you can find many on internet. Heres my version..
- Place one sheet of cake upside down (top of the cake on bottom side).
- Brush thoroughly with coffee syrup until moist.
- Spread one part of coffee cream evenly over the cake.
- Cover with another sheet of cake , always upside down.
- Brush thoroughly with coffee syrup until moist
- Cover with thick ganache and cover with another sheet of cake .
- Repeat above steps until all cake , coffee cream and ganache are stacked completely. Chill for 10 minutes.
- Double boil remaining ganache over low heat just until simmer, pour evenly on the top. Chill for another 30 min.
- Trim the sides thinly to remove excess cream & ganache to reveal the layers.
