Matcha Opera Gateau Recipe

Hello and hello again! Today I will be posting my Matcha Opera Gateau recipe. I was very happy for coming up with this idea, until I googled it and found out that a lot of people have actually made this before. Fail.

But anyway, I am still very happy of the outcome because when I was catering this to an event last Saturday, someone who ate it actually came up to me and said she wanted to order one whole cake! I acted...




but inside I was like...

 

For the basic jaconde recipe I adapted it from Masterchef Australia's recipe and you can get it from here. It is a great opera gateau recipe and I actually have made it along with my friends out of boredom, and the outcome was guh-reat! I might do a post about it someday...

Yields: one (approx. 14cm x 21 cm) cake.

This recipe has 3 parts: the jaconde, buttercream and chocolate ganache. But, it's super simple and easy. If I can do it, you can do it. Because I'm not a pro :).

Opera cake is originated in France and it is basically an almond sponge cake (jaconde), layered with buttercream and ganache. The classic opera cake has coffee brushed to the jaconde, but because this ain't a classic opera cake, or gateau if you'd like, it doesn't need coffee. So we can scratch off one thing to do: making the coffee syrup. Yeay!

INGREDIENTS:

• For the jaconde:

150g almond meal

150g pure icing sugar

60g plain flour

2 tsp good quality matcha powder

4 whole eggs, room temperature (why? read here)

45g melted butter

4 egg whites, room temperature

40g caster sugar

• For the buttercream:

125g butter, softened

1 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture

1 tbs milk (if needed)

2 tsp good quality matcha powder

• For the ganache:

375g dark cooking chocolate, chopped to small chunks or shredded (if you are too bored, shred the chocolate)

300ml thickened cream

30g butter, at room temperature

 METHOD:

Preheat your oven to 200 degree C.

Put 4 whole eggs into a stand mixer and beat on full speed to aerate. Meanwhile, sift all the dry ingredients together in one bowl.

Fold the dry ingredient into the aerated eggs in 3 addition. Beat carefully minimizing air lost in the egg.

Next, put the 4 egg whites to a metal bowl and put a pinch of salt. Whisk with a stand or hand mixer on full speed. Once it reaches soft peaks (bubble bath stage), add the 40g castor sugar one tablespoonful at a time.

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Beat it until stiff peak, but make sure it is NOT DRY! Please do not over whisk :). Whisk it until you can tilt the bowl and it doesn't drip. Do this on someone else's head so even if some egg white drips, it won't drip on your head.

Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the green mixture to loosen its consistency.

Fold the other 2/3 egg whites in two addition, fold it gently.

If you have four 23x13cm tray, divide it to 4 lined tray.
If you only have two, put in 1/4 of the mixture to each tray. Bake the rest after this first batch is finished. Spread the mixture to the edges and tap the tray to release any air bubbles.

Bake in the oven for 5-8 minutes or until it's brown on the edges.

YOU'RE DONE with the jaconde. Now... buttercream, baby.

Whip the butter until it is light and fluffy, add 1 cup of the icing sugar  and the matcha powder and whip away. Have a taste if it needs another 1/2 cup of icing sugar. Some people might not like a buttercream being too sweet. If the buttercream gets too thick, add 1tbs of milk. If it's too runny, add more icing sugar. Once you're happy with the buttercream, set aside.


Now, chocolate ganache. Super easy.
Add the chocolate and butter to a bowl, set aside. Bring the cream to the boil then pour over chocolate mixture. Mix until combined and refrigerate until it thickens

Last step: Assemble! This is the layer from bottom to top:
Jaconde, butter cream, jaconde, ganache, jaconde, buttercream, jaconde, ganache.

When I was catering, I did the jaconde recipe (x3) so I got 12 jaconde and instead of 4 jaconde in one cake, I used 3 so I got 4 cakes.
Are you confuse? Cause I am.

Anyway, the classic opera finishes with chocolate ganache on the top and I usually does that. But, these pictures below are finished with buttercream, because they only got 3 jaconde in each cake.

Once you are done layering, trim the sides with a large knife dipped in hot water. Clean your knife after every cut.

Each cake yields 16 slices...

It's a very scrumptious cake. If you're a big fan of green tea, this is another dessert that you can give a go! If you're not, maybe this cake can change your mind! :)

XOXO