Opera cake (french: Gâteau opéra) is a French
cake
Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...
. It is made with layers of almond
sponge cake
Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated ...
(known as ' in French) soaked in
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
syrup, layered with
ganache
Ganache (; ) is a glaze, icing, sauce, or filling for pastries, made from chocolate and cream.
Preparation
Ganache is a chocolate preparation, normally made by heating equal parts by weight of cream and chopped chocolate, warming the cream ...
and coffee (or
Grand Marnier
Grand Marnier () is a French brand of liqueurs. The brand's best-known product is Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge, an orange-flavored liqueur created in 1880 by Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle. It is made from a blend of Cognac brandy, distilled esse ...
) French
buttercream
Buttercream, also referred to as butter icing or frosting, is used for either filling, coating or decorating cakes. The main ingredients are butter and some type of sugar.
Buttercream is commonly flavored with vanilla. Other common flavors a ...
, and covered in a chocolate glaze. Its namesake originates from the layers resembling the levels of an opera house.
According to ', " is an elaborate almond sponge cake with a coffee and chocolate filling and icing." Traditionally, the word ''Opera'' is also written on top of the chocolate glaze.
Edible gold leaf is sometimes added to the presentation.
Origin
An advertisement in ''
Le Gaulois
''Le Gaulois'' () was a French daily newspaper, founded in 1868 by Edmond Tarbé and Henry de Pène. After a printing stoppage, it was revived by Arthur Meyer in 1882 with notable collaborators Paul Bourget, Alfred Grévin, Abel Hermant, an ...
'' in 1899 offers a "'".
The cake was popularized by the French house
Dalloyau
Dalloyau is a Paris-based food company founded in 1682. Dalloyau is a family-owned and independent business. In 1993, Nadine Gavillon-Bernardé became the company's CEO. Since 2001, the company is a member of the "Comité Colbert". Dalloyau ope ...
, but its origin is unclear. Cyriaque Gavillon claimed to have created the cake there in 1955
and that his wife Andrée Gavillon named it after the
Opéra Garnier
The Palais Garnier (, Garnier Palace), also known as Opéra Garnier (, Garnier Opera), is a 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from ...
.
Gaston Lenôtre
Gaston Lenôtre (, born 28 May 1920, died 8 January 2009) was a French pastry chef. He is known as a possible creator of the opera cake (''gâteau opéra''), the founder of Lenôtre a culinary empire, whose brand includes restaurants, catering serv ...
(1920–2009) claimed he invented the dessert in 1960.
See also
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List of French desserts
This is a list of desserts from the French cuisine. In France, a chef who prepares desserts and pastries is called a pâtissier, who is part of a kitchen hierarchy termed ''brigade de cuisine'' (kitchen staff).
French desserts
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Tiramisu
Tiramisu ( it, tiramisù , from , "pick me up" or "cheer me up") is a coffee-flavoured Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers (savoiardi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, flavoured w ...
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References
{{Cakes
French desserts
Chocolate cakes
Chocolate desserts