CLASSIC OPERA CAKE FROM SCRATCH

You’ll need to plan on several hours of active prep work and even more hours of resting / cooling time. In fact, I personally prefer to make this cake over the course of 2 days – I’ll usually bake the cakes and make the buttercream on day one and save the rest of the steps for day two. However, if you’re patient and get started real early, you could definitely pull it off in a single day.

Whatever you decide to do, be warned: this is definitely the kind of dessert that will have you spend a lot of time in the kitchen. But I can guarantee you one thing: just one bite from the finished product will have you forget aaaaaall about the hard work.
Since the recipe has so many steps to it, this post will be crazy long, so I’ll try and keep the talking to a minimum. Also, I skipped a couple of step-by-step pictures where I felt it could be done, or else there would’ve been way too many… but I’ll do my best at explaining the steps as clearly as I can.

Ingredients

• FOR THE JOCONDE CAKE
• 3 cups (315g | 11.1oz) almond flour
• 2-1/2 cups (300g | 10.6oz) powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup (85g | 3oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 8 large eggs
• 2 tbsp corn syrup
• 1/4 cup (60g | 2.1oz) butter, melted
• 8 large (240g | 8.45oz) egg whites
• 1/2 cup (100g | 3.5oz) granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• FOR THE GANACHE
• 2-1/2 cups (375g | 13.2oz) finely chopped dark chocolate
• 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
• 1/2 cup (120g | 4.2oz) butter, softened
• FOR THE COFFEE BUTTERCREAM
• 1- Swiss meringue buttercream recipe
• 3 tbsp instant coffee powder
• 1 tbsp boiling water
• FOR THE COFFEE SYRUP
• 1/2 cup (100g | 3.6oz) granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup (180ml) water
• 1 tbsp instant coffee powder
• FOR THE CHOCOLATE GLAZE
• 1 cup (150g | 5.3oz) finely chopped dark chocolate
• 1/3 cup (50g | 1.7oz) finely chopped milk chocolate
• 3 tbsp peanut oil (or other neutral tasting oil of your choice)

Instructions

1. MAKE THE JOCONDE CAKE
2. Preheat your oven to 450°F
3. Grease a 13" x 18" rimmed baking sheet and then line it with a piece of parchment paper that fits snuggly inside it. Make sure that the parchment paper adheres evenly to the entire surface of the pan, especially around the edges.
4. Have a second piece of parchment paper of the exact same size ready to line the pan a second time, or prepare a second pan if you have access to one.
5. Sift the almond flour, powdered sugar and flour together over a large mixing bowl. Reserve.
6. Combine the egg whites, granulated sugar and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy and stiff peaks form, about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
7. .....................................

for full instruction please see : eviltwin.kitchen

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