There's something about a French Gâtéau which just screams, class and sophistication. I had never tried making a gâtéau of any sort before, but the other day I was looking through some cook books and then I remembered the delectable cake made by those beautiful Italian boys on My Kitchen Rules a few months back. It looked tricky, time-consuming and too delicate for my style of cooking and that's exactly why I wanted to try it out.
The Gâtéau Opera was made famous in Paris of course, by
Dalloyau Patisserie in 1955. Cyriaque Gavillon from Dalloyau, wanted to created a new cake shape with visible layers and for which
only one bite would give the whole cake's taste. It was named "Opéra" as a tribute to an Opera prima ballerina. The Opera is a rectangular cake composed of three layers of "Joconde" biscuit soaked in coffee syrup and garnished with coffee butter cream and chocolate ganache. (
source)
Yum, I'm not much of a fan of strong coffee tastes in cakes and desserts, but this Opera Gâtéau is like the snobby (and delicious) cousin of Tiramisu!
I adapted the recipe slightly from the good old
Women's Weekly Classic Cakes Book and although my version does look slighly shabbier and less refined than it should, I think the flavour was quite good and I LOVED baking and plating up this little beast! So here's my adaptation of the Gâtéau Opera.
Gâtéau Opera
Almond Sponge
1 ¼ cup almond meal
1 cup icing sugar
1/3 cup plain flour
25 grams unsalted butter
4 egg whites
2 tablespoons caster sugar
Coffee Butter Cream
¼ cup milk
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons instant coffee (I used Nescafe
Espresso)
1 egg yolk
125 grams unsalted butter
Coffee Syrup
1/3 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 ½ tablespoons instant coffee
Ganache
160 grams dark eating chocolate chopped
1/3 cup cream
Method
1. Preheat
oven to 200°C. Grease and paper line to square cake tins.
2. Beat eggs, almond
meal and sifted icing sugar with an electric mixer until creamy, then slowly
add flour whilst beating transfer to a large bowl and stir in butter.
3. Beat egg whites with
an electric mixer until soft peaks form, add caster sugar.
4. Fold almond batter
into egg white mixture slowly in three batches.
5. Divide mixture
between the two pans and bake for 7-10 minutes until sponge springs back and
skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool.
Coffee Butter Cream
Stir milk, sugar and coffee in a small
saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Allow to cool for a little and
gradually add in whisked yolk. Return to low heat ensuring mixture does not
boil, continue whisking until mixture thickens slightly (allow to cool). Beat
butter in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, gradually add the milk
coffee mixture and beat until combined. Coffee butter cream should be thick and
glossy, mixture is a bit too runny a small amount of icing sugar can be added
to stabilise the coffee butter cream.
Coffee Syrup
Combine all ingredients in a cup.
Ganache
Stir ingredients in bowl over a saucepan of
simmering water until smooth and combined.
Putting it all together!
1.Place
one of the sponges on the plate you will serve on and generously cover the
sponge in Coffee Syrup with a pastry brush.
2. Spread
half of the butter cream mixture over the sponge so the cake is nice and flat.
3.Place
the second sponge on top and repeat steps 1 and 2.
4.Spread
ganache on top of the final layer of butter cream so it is smooth and flat, a
rubber spatula will help you achieve this finish.
5.Allow
to chill in the refrigerator and remove and allow to rest for about 20 minutes before serving.
6.Serve
with desired ingredients, I chose to serve mine with vanilla bean ice-cream,
cherries, strawberries and toffee.
7.Bon
appetite!
