an opera tort is layers of a thin almond
sponge cake
filled with coffee buttercream but in
the center
is a layer of chocolate ganache and on
top is a glaze made of chocolate ganache
this chocolate ganache is eight ounces
of chocolate and eight ounces of hot
cream gently melted together
so it's always a one to one ratio
but i have to start by making the almond
sponge cake
what i have here are two egg yolks and
one whole egg at room temperature
i'll add to this a quarter cup of sugar
and then just like the beginning of that
molten cake batter
whip it until it's pale and doubled in
volume
there we go and i'll get my dry
ingredients
ready i'm just going to add two thirds
of a cup of ground almonds
and then sift over that six tablespoons
of cake and pastry flour
and i just stir these to combine now the
final part
is to take the two whites i separated
from the yolks earlier
and i whipped these with two tablespoons
of sugar until they just hold a soft
peak
there we go and now
i fold in the whites into the yolk
mixture in two additions i'll just use
my
whip attachment
and now i fold in the flour and almonds
all at once
it needs to be spread in a thin layer
and the pan size is 11 by 17 inches
so just take an offset spatula
and to spread the thin layer i like to
push the batter into the corners
first and then you can work the batter
to make it as
level as possible this style of cake
suits a hot oven
it's preheated to 400 degrees but
because the cake is so thin it only
takes
eight minutes to bake
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the cake rises up just a little bit as
it bakes
the almonds turn it in even golden brown
and that's your sign
that the cake is done you can actually
smell the toasted almonds
i have a cake that's cooled completely
so
ready for assembly just loosen it from
the edges a little bit
so to create the three cake layers i
simply take this cake and cut it into
thirds
there we go now i'll make this the
bottom layer
and i'm going to soften it with a coffee
syrup but i have a little trick
what i do is take a bit of coating
chocolate you could use regular
chocolate chips
or this is chocolate that is designed to
set so the opposite of the baking
chocolate that i used in the ganache
and i pour this melted chocolate it's
just one and a half ounces
and i spread it and this bit of
chocolate
as it sets now creates a barrier so the
syrup won't leak through
i'll just pop this in the fridge for a
little bit to set while i get the coffee
buttercream ready
i have two egg whites separated and
while whipping i'll add two tablespoons
of sugar
and just get the whites past foamy
and to cook the sugar i add two
tablespoons of water to the pot
and this buttercream takes half a cup of
sugar so i bring this
up to a full rolling boil on high heat
and i measure it using a candy
thermometer until it reaches 240.
there we go it doesn't take long for
half a cup of sugar to hit 240.
now with the mixer running just on a
moderate speed i'm gonna pour the hot
sugar
down the side of the bowl
now i continue to whip the meringue
until i can feel
to touch that it's cooled to room
temperature before i add
a cup of softened butter you can't add
the butter while the meringue is still
hot or it simply just melts the butter
so i can start adding my one cup of
butter and let it completely blend
the final additions of course the
flavorings a little bit of vanilla
add a tablespoon of strongly brewed
espresso it adds the intensity that you
need
without impacting the texture of the
buttercream beat that
to blend it in now the last element
a little coffee syrup for the cake
layers so i'm gonna pour in
a half a cup of hot coffee and just add
to that
three tablespoons of sugar
stir the sugar in to melt the same
proportion of chocolate ganache
works again here the equal parts cream
and chocolate melted together
except this time the ganache is just
set to room temperature to make it
spreadable between those cake layers
so now my chocolate has set
on this top cake layer turn it upside
down
and then brush a little of the coffee
syrup on the cake
then i add almost half of the batch of
buttercream
now i'll place the next layer of sponge
and brush it with the syrup
and now for the standout feature the
ganache layer
in the center i'll put a good two-thirds
of this
to spread in the middle
now the final layer of the sponge cake
and i want to save a little of the
coffee buttercream
to pipe on top
and now for the final layer the ganache
glaze
now to create a glaze i need something
that's shiny
that shows off the dessert but has a
little more set to it
so what i do is take two ounces of
coating chocolate
i'm just going to melt this with the
remaining ganache
and to enhance the shine a real pastry
chef's trick
it's about a tablespoon of vegetable oil
and i'll just stir it until it's all
glossy and smooth now the final step
is to pour this
over the buttercream
there we go so this is ready to be
refrigerated
just to set the glaze and the filling
then it's time for the finishing touches
i have one already
fully chilled i wasn't so worried about
the sides
of the tort when i was filling or
glazing because
you simply trim them away and that
reveals
the beautiful layers within for a cake
this size
i slice it into six portions and cutting
it into this rectangle shape
is the classic way to present operator
slices
and the final touch that little bit
of remaining coffee butter cream is in a
piping bag with a star
tip just type a little star
on each and
in the middle chocolate covered espresso
bean
a dessert like this shows that you
really know how to work with chocolate
ganache