Monday, June 4, 2012

L'opéra de citron: Lemon Opera, tangy, sweet and bitterness, all in one!

 Making cake for me is like crating a dream ^^. I love to let my imagination go wild, and turn it into a piece of cake, haha.

L'opéra de citron: Lemon Opera
 Some of them are good, some of them can't be eaten -*-, well my kitchen is my playground. This time my idea came when I listen to my friend conversation, what was exactly I can't remember, but at that time, it made me thinking about the chocolate and lemon. Chocolate and lemon is a good combination, the tangy and sweet taste of the lemon go very well with the bitterness and a hint of tangy in the chocolate.
After thinking about the taste I have to think about what I will turn both of it into one, and I think about the Opera. It's strange that I never made the original Opera cake, but I like to turn it in to different flavor. So, this time I make the Opera again, but it's a lemon Opera Cake.
Start with the Joconde biscuit that I choose to use the hazelnut instead of almond, I think the taste of it goes well with the lemon. it has a bit of bitterness in it. Then follow by the lemon creme au beurre, that made from mixing the lemon curd with the Italian meringue and butter. The filling ganache has a hint of lemon taste, not over power, just there to bind the cake together. This time for glazing the top of the cake, I chance from the simple ganache into the chocolate glaze, it's easy and it's very glossy ^^.
I had a good time making this cake, playing with all the recipes, trying to adapt it until I like it, haha, so, if the lemon and chocolate is one of combination that you love, hope you enjoy this cake as much as I do.




L'opéra de citron: Lemon Opera
Make 5 (9.5cmx3.5cm piece)




Joconde Biscuit
use 24x34cm sheet pan


125g ............................ TPT* (Hazelnut)
20g .............................. Almond powder
80g .............................. Egg
16g ............................... Cake flour


Meringue
-75g ............................. Egg whites
-16g ............................. Sugar


13g ............................... Butter


Filling ganache
30g .............................. Dark chocolate
25g .............................. Milk chocolate
35g .............................. Whipping cream
2tsp ............................. Lemon juice
8g................................. Honey
10g ................................ Butter



La creme au beurre (Lemon)
30g .................................. Egg yolks
100g ................................ Sugar
15g .................................. Whipping cream
30g .................................. Lemon juice
150g ............................... Unsalted butter
25g .................................. Egg whites


Base chocolate
60g ............................ Dark chocolate
7g ............................... Oil 


Lemon syrup
50g ............................ Sugar
50g ............................ water
1tsp ........................... Lemon zest
10g ............................ Cointreau



Glacage Chocolat
44g ............................... Milk
20g ............................... Glucose syrup
30g ............................... Whipping cream
20g ............................... Sugar
100g ............................. Coating chocolate
34g ................................ Dark chocolate



*TPT is the mixture of nut and icing sugar in equal weight.


Start by making the Joconde:


Preheat the oven to 200 °C line the pan with baking paper.

If using the ground hazelnut, just mix it together with the icing sugar to make the TPT.
Or you can ground the hazelnut with the icing sugar.




 Mix the TPT, almond flour and egg together  until smooth, mix in the flour and set aside.
Meanwhile, melt the butter, and set aside.

Beat the egg whites and sugar until stiff peak form.


 Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the nut and egg mixture, fold the warm melted butter into the mixture then fold the rest of the meringue until fully combine.




Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan and bake for 8-15 minutes.
 When cool cut into 3 pieces.


Make the lemon syrup:
Put the sugar, water and lemon zest into the small sauce pan and boil over medium heat. Then pour it in a cup and let it cool completely. Strain the zest and mix the syrup with Cointreau

 Make the base chocolat:

Melt the chocolate, then add the oil, stir to combine.
Place one sheet of cake wrong side up , pour the chocolate mixture over and put the cake into the fridge until harden.


Make La creme au beurre (Lemon):

  Mix egg yolks with 50g of sugar and bring the lemon juice and whipping cream to boil.
Pour the lemon juice mixture into the egg yolk mixture, stirring all the time.
Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring all the time. until the temperature reaches 82°C.
Pour the mixture into large bowl, let it cool completely.
Make the Italian meringue using 50g of the sugar and 1/2tbsp of water (see how-to here).
Beat the butter into the lemon curd, until fully combine. 
When the meringue cool mix in the butter and custard mixture, beat until fully combine.


Make the filling ganache:

Put the whipping cream and lemon juice into the pan and boil over low heat.
Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate melt.
Put the butter and the honey into the ganache and stir until combine.


Assemble:

When the chocolate on the base is harden, flip the cake right side up and sprinkle with syrup. 
Spread the buttercream over the cake, then place another sheet of cake and sprinkle with the syrup. Put the cake into the fridge until the buttercream harden.
Spread the filling ganache over the cake, then place another sheet of cake and sprinkle with the syrup. Put the cake into the fridge until the ganache harden.
Spread the buttercream over the cake, then put the cake into the fridge until the buttercream harden.



Making the Glacage Chocolat:
Bring to boil all the ingredients except both kinds of chocolate, then pour it over the chocolate and stir until combine. Let it cool.


Pour the Glacage Chocolat over the buttercream, then return the cake to the fridge.
When the Glacage Chocolat firm, trim the cake and cut into desired pieces.
Decorate before serving.



L'opéra de citron: Lemon Opera

L'opéra de citron: Lemon Opera, tangy, sweet and bitterness, all in one!

6 comments:

  1. lemon and choc, nice combo, but looking at the long steps, really hesitate to give it a try, hahahaha, very lazy hor

    ReplyDelete
  2. that looks AMAZING!! !=D =D and i'm sure it tasted fantastic as well ^^ so pretty!! I love making layered cakes as well.. its fun!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi!

    Would like to ask what's the difference between the coating chocolate and the normal dark chocolate couverture?

    Thanks!

    Wendy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Coating chocolate is the chocolate that mainly use for covering the sweet, like the one we use for cake pop.
    It's been made with some ingredient to make it shine and harden easily at room temperature without tempering.
    You can use other kind of chocolate, but your glaze will be less shine than me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This cake looks absolutely perfect, I tried once with Opera but didn't come out as expected (it was good...but not an Opera).

    ReplyDelete

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