This month’s Daring Bakers challenge was Opéra Cake – and what a challenge it was. Just seeing all those layers, I mean, it looks downright complicated, overwhelming and scary… eeep! And while my initial reading of the multi-page recipe was rather daunting and left me thinking “holy mother of pearl – what have I gotten myself into this time?!?!” it ended up being a lot less difficult than I had expected, and a whole lot more fun! I’d love to share this month’s adventure with you so please continue reading after the jump…
This month’s challenge was hosted by Lis and Ivonne (the two who started the Daring Bakers!!), along with Fran and Shea – I gotta give them props for coming up with a great one :)

For those unfamiliar with Opéra Cake, it’s an extremely elegant and polished French dessert that is believed to have been created around the beginning of the 1900s. Many people credit a gentleman by the name of Louis Clichy with inventing the cake and that’s why it’s sometimes referred to as Clichy Cake.

So what exactly is an Opéra Cake?

Well it’s a cake that is typically comprised of five components: a joconde (a cake layer made from almond flour), a syrup (to wet the joconde – I chose raspberry flavor syrup), a buttercream (to fill some of the layers – I chose lemon), a ganache or mousse (to top the final cake layer – I chose to do mousse) and a glaze (to cover the final layer of cake or of ganache/mousse). Typically, Opéra Cake is done in chocolate and coffee flavors but since it’s Spring we were challenged to lighten it up both in colors and flavors :)

This recipe we were provided is based on Opéra Cake recipes in Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets and Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty’s Chocolate Passion.

First I’ll list out the full recipe… and after that, give you a quick step-by-step assembly tutorial in words and pictures (I’m a visual kinda gal! LOL)

For the joconde

(Note: The joconde can be made up to 1 day in advance and kept wrapped at room temperate)

What you’ll need:

•2 12½ x 15½-inch (31 x 39-cm) jelly-roll pans (Note: If you do not have jelly-roll pans this size, do not fear! You can use different-sized jelly-roll pans like 10 x 15-inches.)
•a few tablespoons of melted butter (in addition to what’s called for in the ingredients’ list) and a brush (to grease the pans)
•parchment paper
•a whisk and a paddle attachment for a stand mixer or for a handheld mixer
•two mixing bowls (you can make do with one but it’s preferable to have two)

Ingredients:

6 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp. (30 grams) granulated sugar
2 cups (225 grams) ground blanched almonds (Note: You can buy almond meal in bulk food stores or health food stores, or you can make it at home by grinding almonds in the food processor with a tablespoon or two of the flour that you would use in the cake. The reason you need the flour is to prevent the almonds from turning oily or pasty in the processor. You will need about 2 cups of blanched almonds to create enough almond meal for this cake.)
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
6 large eggs
½ cup (70 grams) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. (1½ ounces; 45 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1.Divide the oven into thirds by positioning a rack in the upper third of the oven and the lower third of the oven.
2.Preheat the oven to 425?F. (220?C).
3.Line two 12½ x 15½- inch (31 x 39-cm) jelly-roll pans with parchment paper and brush with melted butter.
4.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or using a handheld mixer), beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy. If you do not have another mixer bowl, gently scrape the meringue into another bowl and set aside.
5.If you only have one bowl, wash it after removing the egg whites or if you have a second bowl, use that one. Attach the paddle attachment to the stand mixer (or using a handheld mixer again) and beat the almonds, icing sugar and eggs on medium speed until light and voluminous, about 3 minutes.
6.Add the flour and beat on low speed until the flour is just combined (be very careful not to overmix here!!!).
7.Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture and then fold in the melted butter. Divide the batter between the pans and spread it evenly to cover the entire surface of each pan.
8.Bake the cake layers until they are lightly browned and just springy to the touch. This could take anywhere from 5 to 9 minutes depending on your oven. Place one jelly-roll pan in the middle of the oven and the second jelly-roll pan in the bottom third of the oven.
9.Put the pans on a heatproof counter and run a sharp knife along the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Cover each with a sheet of parchment or wax paper, turn the pans over, and unmold.
10.Carefully peel away the parchment, then turn the parchment over and use it to cover the cakes. Let the cakes cool to room temperature.

For the syrup

(Note: The syrup can be made up to 1 week in advance and kept covered in the refrigerator.)

What you’ll need:

•a small saucepan

Ingredients:

½ cup (125 grams) water
? cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
1 to 2 tbsp. of the flavouring of your choice (i.e., vanilla extract, almond extract, cognac, limoncello, coconut cream, honey etc.)

1.Stir all the syrup ingredients together in the saucepan and bring to a boil.
2.Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

For the buttercream

(Note: The buttercream can be made up to 1 month in advance and packed in an airtight container. I
f made way in advance, you can freeze the buttercream. Alternatively you can refrigerate it for up to 4 days after making it. To use the buttercream simply bring it to room temperature and then beat it briefly to restore its consistency.)

What you’ll need:

•a small saucepan
•a candy or instant-read thermometer
•a stand mixer or handheld mixer
•a bowl and a whisk attachment
•rubber spatula

Ingredients:

1 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
¼ cup (60 grams) water
1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract

{channeling my best Homer Simpson voice} M’mmmmm…. cheesecake…. nom nom nom.

I love cheesecake. Do you love cheesecake? More importantly, do you love cheesecake as much as **I** love cheesecake? I dunnnnnooooo…. might be hard cuz boy do I love cheesecake :) In this one week I’ve had to make not one but two cheesecakes… two completely different recipes. One was for a friend’s birthday… and the other was for this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge.

Truth be told, making a cheesecake isn’t really hard. It’s pretty much just cream cheese, sugar, flour, salt, eggs, vanilla and heavy cream. And all ya gotta do is pretty much combine em together and bake…. right? I mean, how hard could it be… right? HA! Making cheesecake is easy – - – but making **goooood** cheesecake? That’s not so easy.

For a smooth cheesecake you need all your ingredients at room temperature. And you don’t want to overbeat… overbeating will cause the cheesecake to crack as it’s cooking. And you don’t want it to cool too quickly… cooling too quickly will cause it to crack. Cheesecake is rather finicky wouldn’tcha say?

As part of the Daring Bakers, we take an oath… and pinky swear… that we’ll make the same recipe, following the directions as they’re given. This month it was a good thing, too, cuz if left to my own devices this would have never come together.

After getting all the ingredients into the prepared pan, this recipe requires you to bake the cheesecake in a water bath… this is also known as “bain marie” style (hey, I dunno, I don’t speak French, I barely can get things right in English, but it’s called bain marie… and if ya can’t pronounce it right then just say “water bath” and folks will understandja {wink}. I only have a small tea kettle so I filled it with water and timed things pretty well so that once I got the batter into the pan, the tea kettle started whistling not a minute later. I thought I was doin goooooood :) Until I discovered that my tea kettle full of boiling water barely, and I do mean **barely**, covered the bottom of my roasting pan. ACK!! I had to boil more water! It was almost like a scene from a movie where a lady’s getting ready to have a baby and everyone’s running around yelling “BOIL SOME WATER!!! BOIL SOME WATER!!!” cuz yes indeedy Ricky Bobby I was in my kitchen just yammerin away in disbelief “water!!! I need more boiling water!!!!!” …. as if anyone was around to take care of that task for me…. HA! As if! I mean, sure, there’s three of us in the kitchen but they’re “me”… “myself”… and let’s not forget “I”…. and we were all busy shakin our heads in disbelief that we didn’t have enough boiling water and well, ya know when ya NEED boiling water, the water takes FOR-EV-ER to boil. {sigh}

Okay so we (all three of us, recall) got the pan in enough boiling water to call it a water bath (yeah, yeah, I know… bahn mah-rie… that’s what I said… water bath). And then…. we let it bake. It took about an hour for this baby to finish baking but it looked beautiful if I must say so myself. After chilling the cheesecake for a few hours, you scoop out some balls, insert lollipop sticks and let em freeze for a good long time.

Finally comes the fun part… dipping them in melted chocolate and decorating :)

Now that you’ve heard my story and seen my pictures, why not check out the results of the other Daring Bakers to see their handiwork too :)

Thanks to this month’s hosts Deborah (Taste and Tell) and Elle (Feeding My Enthusiasms)

RECIPE AND INSTRUCTIONS

Cheesecake Pops
Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) – Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set ov
er simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.