INSTAGRAM : @bakedbyammna #bakedbyammna
I recently received some award winning chocolate from Hummingbird Chocolate in Ontario Canada. (link to their page here) the chocolate is absoulty amazing, and i kept thinking and thinking what I should bake with it. And then i thought.. if this is award winning.. it needs to be baked into something that I feel is just as award winning. An opera cake – layers of hazelnut jaconde, with coffee syrup, coffee buttercream, luscious chocolate ganache and a chocolate glaze.. i mean on the difficult spectrum this is pretty intense ( mainly because its time consuming i think) and thats what i felt this was the perfect fit to the prefect chocolate. It is definitely an adult taste but it is sooooooo yummy!
Here’s how you bake it!
INGREDIENTS:
For the base – hazelnut jaconde
- 4 egg whites
- 50g sugar
- 250g hazelnut flour (ground hazelnuts)
- 250g icing sugar
- 80g flour
- 40g melted butter, cooled
For the coffee buttercream :
- 125ml milk
- 45g coffee beans
- 50g sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 50g sugar
- 20g strong coffee, cooled
- 165g butter, room temp.
For the chocolate ganache :
- 150g dark chocolate (i used hummingbird chocolate 75%, you can buy it here)
- 110ml cream
- 2 tsp syrup (i used golden syrup)
- 30g butter, cut into cubes
For the coffee syrup :
- 150ml strong coffee
- 135g sugar
For the chocolate glaze :
- 140g dark chocolate (i used hummingbird chocolate 80%, you can buy it here)
- 110g butter
- 1 tsp sunflower oil (or any vegetable non-flavored oil)
METHOD :
For the hazelnut jaconde :
- Turn the oven on to 230C (420F), and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Whisk the egg whites in a stand whisker or with a hand held whisk until thick and fluffy, add 50g sugar and whisk until thick and glossy. Then fold in the other ingredients and spread out onto the baking tray. Bake in the middle of the oven for 7-8 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Let it cool completely before removing.
- Once cooled, slice into three equal long rectangles.
For the coffee buttercream :
- In a small saucepan heat up the milk, with coffee beans and sugar. Let it seep for 5 min, making sure the milk doesnt over boil.
- Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a stand mixer, and then add in the coffee milk while whisking.
- Pour back into the saucepan through a sieve. Heat up whisk stirring until it thickens.
- Pour back into the stand mixer and whisk with the butter and strong coffee until thick and glossy buttercream. Set aside until ready to use.
For the chocolate ganache :
- Heat the cream and syrup in a saucepan until it just comes to a boil then pour over the chocolate in a seperate bowl. Let it sit for 5 min.
- Then whisk until thick and leave aside until ready to use.
For the coffee syrup :
- Heat up the coffee and sugar in a saucepan, until thick. Then set aside to cool completely.
For the glaze :
- Melt the chocolate and oil together and whisk until glossy. Set aside until ready to use.
Assembly : (have a look at the fun video below to see how to assembly, pause in places if it goes too fast! 🙂 )
- Start by glazing one side of one hazelnut jaconde and placing it chocolate side down (i usually put mine int he freezer for a bit so it stiffens and is easier to work with).
- Then spread some coffee syrup over the jaconde (not the chocolate side) and over that spread the coffee buttercream.
- Place the second jaconde layer on top and spread coffee syrup over that, and then the chocolate ganache.
- Place the final layer of jaconde and then coffee syrup over that. Spread the final amount of coffee buttercream evenly.
- Place the cake in the freezer for about 10 minutes to just get the buttercream to set.
- Take it out and the slowly but evenly spread the glaze over the top. Let it drip through the sides. once its dripped, then with a hot knife cute evenly on the sides and even slices (I got roughly 6 big slices). And enjoy!
Baked By Ammna 