Opera Cake
20 servings
40 minutes
The recipe was shared with us by the brand pastry chef of the Sartoria Lamberti restaurant, Naira Sosedova. Opera cake is a famous French dessert. In the classic version, it is made of almond sponge cake layers, layered with chocolate and coffee cream and covered with chocolate glaze. In the author's interpretation of pastry chef Naira Sosedova, the same layers are layered with raspberry jelly, raspberry ganache and pistachio cream - the result is a lighter and fruitier dessert.
1
Prepare the 'Joconde' biscuit. Whisk eggs, yolk, almond flour, pistachio paste (35 g), and powdered sugar into a fluffy light mass. Gradually fold in the flour by hand.
- Chicken egg: 110 g
- Egg yolk: 40 g
- Almond flour: 110 g
- Pistachio paste: 75 g
- Powdered sugar: 75 g
- Wheat flour: 50 g
2
Whisk the egg whites with 50 g of sugar until stiff peaks form.
- Egg white: 65 g
- Sugar: 120 g
3
Carefully introduce eggs with sugar (50 g) into the yolk mixture in three stages. Spread on a silicone mat with edges.
- Chicken egg: 110 g
- Sugar: 120 g
4
Bake at 190 degrees on convection until golden brown, which will take about 10 minutes.
5
Prepare pistachio cream. For this, whip cream cheese with sugar (30 g) and pistachio paste (40 g). Heat the milk, remove from heat, add gelatin (5 g), and pour it in a thin stream into the whipped cheese. Add cold cream and whip everything again.
- Cream cheese: 315 g
- Sugar: 120 g
- Pistachio paste: 75 g
- Milk: 30 ml
- Gelatin: 21 g
- Cream 33%: 364 ml
6
Prepare jelly from raspberry and lime. Boil raspberry puree (240 g) and lime with sugar (40 g), add pre-soaked gelatin (6 g), and season with ground black pepper.
- Raspberry puree: 366 g
- Lime puree: 26 g
- Sugar: 120 g
- Gelatin: 21 g
- Ground black pepper: 0 g
7
Prepare whipped raspberry ganache. Bring 104 g of cream, glucose, and raspberry puree (86 g) to a boil, add pre-soaked gelatin (10 g), pour over chocolate, and add 260 g of cream. Mix and refrigerate for 4 hours. Then blend.
- Cream: 104 ml
- Liquid glucose: 34 g
- Raspberry puree: 366 g
- Gelatin: 21 g
- Chocolate pink: 147 g
- Cream 33%: 364 ml
8
Assemble the dessert. Take half of the sponge cake, cover it with pistachio cream, then add raspberry jelly with pepper on top, followed by raspberry ganache (leave some for coating the cake). Cover with the second half of the sponge cake. The cake is ready. Place it in the freezer until it freezes.
9
Cut the frozen cake into 20 pieces of size 4.5x5 cm. Cover each pastry with ganache using a spatula. Place in the freezer for 5 minutes to set the coating.
10
Prepare the glaze. To do this, melt the milk chocolate, add vegetable oil and activated charcoal. Skewer each pastry with a knife or fork, dip it in the glaze, then remove excess glaze from the bottom.
- Milk chocolate: 300 g
- Vegetable oil: 60 ml
- Activated carbon: 3 g
11
The pastry is ready. It can be served as is.