🍰 Opera cake

Name: Opera cake
Total time: 180 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: France · Paris
Ingredients: Joconde: 150 g ground almonds, 150 g icing sugar, 4 eggs, 4 egg whites, 40 g flour, 30 g butter, melted; Coffee syrup: 150 ml strong coffee, 80 g sugar; Buttercream: 200 g butter, 150 g sugar, 2 egg yolks, 2 tbsp instant coffee; Ganache: 150 g dark chocolate, 150 ml cream; Glaze: 100 g dark chocolate, 2 tbsp oil

Origin: France · Paris

279kcal

per serving · 90 g

310kcal

per 100 g

5 gProtein5.5 g / 100 g

17 gFat19 g / 100 g

27 gCarbs30 g / 100 g

Opera cake is a refined French gâteau of thin almond sponge layers (joconde) soaked in coffee syrup, alternated with coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache, and finished with a glossy chocolate glaze. Each slice shows neat, even stripes and tastes intensely of coffee and dark chocolate. It is served in small rectangular slices with coffee.

Diets

✓

Vegetarianno meat or fish in a typical recipe

✓

No pork

Not veganbecause of: almond sponge cake, coffee buttercream, chocolate ganache

Contains glutenbecause of: almond sponge cake

Contains dairybecause of: coffee buttercream, chocolate ganache

Not keto30 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Eggs ⚠ Milk ⚠ Tree nuts

What it is made of

almond sponge cakecoffee buttercreamchocolate ganache

Recipe

12 servings180 min

Ingredients

Joconde: 150 g ground almonds, 150 g icing sugar, 4 eggs, 4 egg whites, 40 g flour, 30 g butter, melted
Coffee syrup: 150 ml strong coffee, 80 g sugar
Buttercream: 200 g butter, 150 g sugar, 2 egg yolks, 2 tbsp instant coffee
Ganache: 150 g dark chocolate, 150 ml cream
Glaze: 100 g dark chocolate, 2 tbsp oil

Method

Whisk the almonds, icing sugar and eggs until pale, fold in the flour, then the whipped egg whites and melted butter. Bake in two trays at 220 °C for 7 minutes.
Make the syrup and the coffee buttercream; heat the cream and pour it over the chopped chocolate for the ganache.
Cut the sponge into three equal sheets.
Layer: sponge soaked in syrup, buttercream, sponge, ganache, sponge, buttercream, chilling between layers.
Pour over the melted chocolate glaze, chill for 2 hours and slice with a hot knife.

How to make it lighter

Cut thin slices — a 5 × 5 cm square is a typical serving.
Share a slice or save half for later.
Pair with black coffee rather than a sweetened drink.

History

Opera cake is usually credited to the Parisian pastry house Dalloyau in the mid-twentieth century, though another Paris pastry chef also claimed it. The name is often linked to the Paris Opera, with the layers said to evoke its stage.

Count it in one photo

Point your camera at the table — Me Nutrition recognises Opera cake and every other dish, with calories and macros for each. Ate only half? Slide it.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →