L'Opera Cake ~ Daring Bakers

Epicurious.com states

"There are many stories about the origins of this cake, known as both Clichy cake and Opéra cake. Many believe that Louis Clichy was its creator because he premiered the gâteau, with his name written across the top, at the 1903 Exposition Culinaire in Paris. It became the signature cake of Clichy's shop on the Boulevard Beaumarchais. However, another pastry shop, Dalloyau, sold a very similar dessert, known as L'Opéra (in honor of the Paris Opera), and some claim that theirs was the original."

This month was the hardest challenge to date for me ( ok I bailed on the French bread that would have been the hardest)


The Joconde


First step was the Joconde.

Sarah Says: A Joconde is an almond sponge cake. This biscuit is named for the Mona Lisa (La Joconda in French). Americans spell the name for this cake as "jaconde" instead of "joconde"; "joconde" is the proper term. In addition to containing almonds, it differs from other sponge cakes by having whole eggs (rather than just yolks) beaten with sugar and ground almonds before the meringue is folded in. Joconde is baked in thin layers on baking sheets. Joconde is used to make linings for the outsides of charlottes, a traditional French raspberry mousse cake, and other Bavarian mousse cakes.

This step was ok for me but it was the very first Meringue I had ever made. I think I will do that again and maybe even make a few things I had in France as a kid (this is of course if I could remember what there names where).

The Syrup

This was really easy and I only added Vanilla to it.




The Butter Cream

This was the second time I have done a butter cream. I did it just like the challenge said to and I added Raspberry flavor to it. I didn't add enough though for it had to compete with the other flavors. But it looked pretty

For the white chocolate ganache/mousse

I always wondered what a ganache was and now I know. This was hard!!!! I messed up the white chocolate and had to go buy more. But I new what I did wrong and was able to make it work the second time. I added mint flavor to much, but hey it tasted good!

Assembly time

First the Joconde, Syrup and, the Butter cream. Then again




Then the ganache. Once that was over I put it in the fridge so it would set.

then the Glaze

I learned from my first white chocolate melting attempt and so I did it right.........

But as you can see I got ahead of myself. I didn't let it cool enough and the result a BIG mess.

I was still able to cut it and get a few pictures.

After the first bite. It was really good!

To see others hop on over to the Daring Bakers Blog Roll

Cheese Cake Pops ~ Daring Bakers Style

I never thought this month's challenge would be so much fun for me.

The recipe comes from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor. Our hosts for this month thought it would be a good idea.

When we got the recipe I was a little overwhelmed and so I waited a while before I started. I read and reread all the posts on how everyone was cooking theirs. When I felt it was the right time I went for it.

I have never made a cheesecake other than out of the box. So I went to work. I never believed it could be so easy. But the whole water bath thing was scary and I learned from the other Daring bakers to make sure the water was boiling and the oven was at the right temp. I don't have an oven thermometer so I had know idea if it was the right temp or not. I remembered though that if you leave your pizza stone in the oven it will help keep it at a stable temp.

Everyone's times were different so I just let mine cook until done. ( really I forgot to watch the time). When it looked done and felt done I took it out and put it in the fridge. I didn't want to take a picture of my Fridge! so I didn't but this is what it looked like when I took it out of the oven



Once it was cooled I began scoopin' This was fun. I found it a little messy and ended up using my hands too. Washing both my hands and the scoop often.

I did this over and over again until I made 50ish little "Soldiers" and placed a pop stick in each one. Next, they were popped into the freezer.

Once they were frozen I dipped them in Chocolate. I that never dipped anything into Chocolate before. I thought that adventure was fun! Thanks to Deborah and Elle for a wonderful challenge. I have had so much fun with it. Don't forget to check out what others that have done this recipe there are so many ways you could to this to fit any occasion.

Cheesecake Pops

Adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.
Now - go on over and check out all of the other creations!!

My First Daring Bakers Challenge

My first challenge on the Daring Baker's was the PERFECT PARTY CAKE
Courtesy of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours (page 250).

I knew this was going to be a challenge for me. I am a find a box cake and hope that turns out kinda girl. But as this month was my Hubbies 40th birthday I wanted it to be special.

I start out making this cake and things just flowed it was so much easier than I thought it would be.

You know a cake from scratch using special cake flour and everything!

The out come was great and my Hubby loved it. Of course that is what really matters anyway right!