Joey, here...
So, I was concerned with this challenge (from Lis, Fran, Shea and Ivonne of Daring Baker's fame) and more than a little intimidated by the length and construction of the cake, BUT, i took their advice and read through it first before embarking on the challenge... and that made all the difference...
I started the process at the beginning of the month by making the syrup and buttercream well in advance... I was also concerned about the size of the pans suggested, but when the day came to make the cake, I just used the closest-sized pan available to me, which was a 12x17 sheet pan... It made for a thinner cake, but I didn't leave myself any alternative...
I luckily discovered bagged blanched almonds at Food Emporium and proceeded to make my own almond meal, although I don't think I ground them enough, but the sure smelled good...
I didn't have any issues with the layers, either making or cutting them... I got the center layers to the correct size, and everything seemed to come together beautifully, UNTIL.......
I don't like working with white chocolate... I find it difficult to melt completely and often end up with several partially melted chips, and that's what happened in both the mousse and the glaze... I flicked out as many as I could from the mousse before refrigerating the cake again...
When it came time to glaze, I had the same problem that other DBers apparently had... I let the chocolate cool for 10 minutes, but it wasn't enough time, and when I poured it over the cake, the mousse meted slightly and the glaze wouldn't adhere correctly, and actually slid off in some areas...
But as you can see by the above photo, it still came out okay... I would have liked the glaze to be smoother, but I think Steven's addition of our name in our signature blue helps distract the eye from those tasty imperfections...
This Opera Cake is flavored with Grand Marnier in the buttercream, the syrup and the mousse... When all was said and done, it came out quite nicely... I'd definitely make this cake again if asked!
Here are more photos...
That's all for today... Look for our next post when Steven talks about our adventures with fondant!
16 comments:
You know, I never would have noticed the imperfections if you hadn't pointed them out; you did a *great* job with this one.
Your L'opera cake looks super moist, tasty, and mouth watering.
Your cake looks pretty good. Well, all's well that ends very well.:)
Great looking cake! Job well done.
Mmmm, I like the nice ivory and white colors. It's a very pretty cake. I couldn't tell from the pics that you had problems with the glaze.
Great job!
looks fantastic and I'm sure it tasted even better!
Gr8 looking cake. Well done.
Um I didn't see any imperfections. I saw a beautiful cake, even layers and my favorite color...blue!! Great job!
No complaints here, looks like a lovely cake.
I'm really loving the light coloured cakes...it looks like a yummy cloud :)
I used a 12x17 pan for my cake too but only baked one sheet (since I halved the recipe) I think I liked the really thin layers... but I wasn't brave enough to try the ganache.
Looks great no matter what you say. Great job.
Grand Marnier in every component? Oh, yeah. Save me a slice!
Your cake looks great, and Grand Marnier would be perfect!
Shari@Whisk: a food blog
Mercy, that looks great! Y'all did a great job - as always. :)
Your opera cake looks scrumptious. I would love to pick up that fork and take a bite!
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