How To Make Amazing Opera Cake (+VIDEO)

Today, I’m sharing how to make a classic opera cake step by step.

I love chocolate cakes such as my moist chocolate banana cake and simple chocolate cake! And opera cake is called “A king of chocolate cake” for a reason. This decadent coffee chocolate cake is packed with rich flavors: a harmony of chocolate, coffee, almond, and cognac... It melts in your mouth with an amazing aroma!

In this post, you'll learn essential baking tips such as:

• How to make a smooth ganache
• How to make buttercream with Anglaise sauce
• Tips to assemble the cake beautifully
• The temperature of the chocolate glaze and how to spread it on top
• How to cut the cake professionally to show the layers ......and so on!

Jump to:

• 📌 What's In Opera Cake?
• 📌 How To Make Opera Cake
• 📌 How To Slice An Opera Cake
• 📌 Frequently Asked Questions
• 📌 VIDEO: Opera Cake
• 📌 Printable Recipe
• Classic Opera Cake Recipe

📌 What's In Opera Cake?

Biscuit Joconde

• Make one batch of my biscuit Joconde recipe.

Coffee Syrup

• Milled coffee
  • I like to use dark roast coffee.
• Water
• Granulated sugar
• Cognac
  • You can omit it if you or your guests can not take alcohol. I highly recommend using it if you want to enjoy the authentic opera cake taste.

Chocolate to spread on the bottom layer of a sponge

• Dark chocolate(melted)
• Oil

Mocha Buttercream

• Milk
• Milled coffee
• Granulated sugar
• Egg yolks
• Unsalted butter(soft)

Ganache

• Dark chocolate(melted)
  • I used 58% couverture chocolate. I recommend the 50-60% range.
• Heavy cream

Chocolate Glaze

• Dark chocolate(melted)
  • I used 58% couverture chocolate. I recommend the 50-60% range.
• Oil

Chocolate to draw on top (Optional)

• Dark chocolate(melted)
  • Or just use the extra chocolate glaze dropped on a tray after you used it.

📍 The printable recipe is at the very end of this post.

Jump to Recipe

Check out below to see the steps with more detailed tips and images👇🏻

📌 How To Make Opera Cake

Preparation

For biscuit Joconde

• Preheat the oven: to 410F | 210C
• Set parchment papers on 2 half-size sheet pans. (10.5 inch | 26.7 cm ✖︎ 15 inch | 38 cm. You can also use 1 full-size sheet pan or 4 quarter sheet pans.)
• Prepare all the ingredients ahead so that we can move smoothly after this. 

Biscuit Joconde

To learn how to make the biscuit Joconde for this opera cake, read this post. I'm sharing all the steps in detail.

Pour one batch of the batter into 2 half-sheet pans (10.5 inches | 26.7 cm ✖︎ 15 inches | 38 cm.)

You can also use one full-size sheet pan or 4 quarter sheet pans.

🔥 Bake at 410 F | 210 C for 6-7 minutes until the surface looks golden brown.

💬 When you use 2 racks in an oven, rotate them between shelves to bake evenly. Or use just one rack and switch the position toward the end if you need to.

Now, cut them in half. And cut in another half. In total, you'll get 4 sponge layers.

👩🏻‍🍳 I like to make the sponge very thin for opera cake since the thin layers create a more delicate texture. Don’t worry even if it might look super thin!

Chocolate coating for the sponge:

Mix melted chocolate and oil and spread thinly on one of the sponge layers. And chill it in a fridge until it's set. This layer is going to be the very bottom of the cake.

We soak the cake with A LOT of coffee syrup. The chocolate coating creates a barrier and helps to transfer the cake a lot easier when you slice and serve.

💬 I recommend cutting a cake board to the cake size and place on the bottom. This helps to move the cake easily especially when you spread a glaze on a cooling rack.

Coffee Syrup

Next, heat water and sugar in a pan to make coffee syrup.

Once it started simmering, stop the heat and add milled coffee.

Roughly mix and place a lid on top to let it steam for about 10–15 minutes. (Do not boil the water for a long time since the amount of syrup will be a lot less.)

Next, strain and discard the milled coffee.

To finish off this syrup, add a very very generous amount of cognac!

👩🏻‍🍳 Yes, it is a VERY generous amount of cognac! But surprisingly, it works so well. I usually like to add alcohol to my desserts just as a hint but for Opera cake, it plays a very important sub-main role.

I tried with other alcohols as well such as rum but cognac is absolutely the best.

But of course, you can omit it if you or your guests can't have alcohol.

Mocha Buttercream

First, heat the milk in a small pod.

Again, do not boil the milk, just a little bit of simmering is fine. (boiling milk can easily over float!)

Once it started simmering, stop the heat and add milled coffee. Place a lid and let it steam for 10-15 minutes just like how we did with the coffee syrup.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix egg yolks and sugar until it looks pale a little bit.

Strain and add the coffee liquid, and pour it back into a pan.

Continue heating with low heat until it starts getting thickened a bit. Heat VERY gently especially toward the end so that you are not cooking the yolks - you don't want scrambled eggs!

Once it's done, strain it in a bowl.

This is the same method as Anglaise sauce. The buttercream is made by mixing the coffee Anglaise sauce and butter.

💡 The sauce is hot at this point. Cool it to room temperature before adding butter so that it's not going to melt. Do not cool it too much though so that the butter does not get too hard.

Add about ⅓ of the coffee syrup to the butter and whip.

💬 It is very important to use soft butter to make the buttercream even and fluffy.

Add the rest and continue whipping until it looks fluffy. It makes a big difference!

The whipped buttercream feels lighter in your mouth due to lots of air inside.

💬 This buttercream contains a good amount of liquids. I intentionally chose to do so so that the buttercream feels softer even while it is cold.

Ganache

First, melt the chocolate.

I also like to warm the heavy cream until it feels slightly warm so that they blend easier.

Next, add about ¼ of heavy cream and mix.

Once it looks even, repeat the process until you add all the heavy cream. I divided it into 4 times this time.

💬 Depending on the temperatures of chocolate and heavy cream, it might be too soft to spread on a sponge right after it's made. In that case, wait for a little. It’ll soon get firmer as it cools down. Mix and check the consistency.

Assembling the opera cake

First, brush ¼ of the coffee syrup on the first sponge layer.

You might feel shocked to see how much amount of coffee syrup that is... but it works so well for this cake! Don’t be afraid of soaking it too much. 

💡 When you see syrup floating on the surface of the sponge, make shallow cuts all over the sponge evenly just like in the image below. The syrup goes in deeper immediately, and you can apply more syrup.

Spread half of the ganache. The consistency should not be too soft or too firm.

If it gets too firm to spread, simply heat it a little bit to make it softer.

And place the 2nd layer of sponge on top.

👩🏻‍🍳 When you do that, the baked side should be facing down. That is because that side is protected by the baked skin and it doesn’t soak up syrup well. The lighter side can soak it up a lot more!

And spread half of the buttercream.

Now, repeat the same thing one more time to finish assembling the cake:

1. Apply the coffee syrup to the 3rd sponge layer.
2. Spread the rest of the ganache.
3. Apply the rest of the coffee syrup to the 4th sponge layer
4. Spread the rest of the buttercream.

This cake is composed of 4 layers of sponge, 2 layers of ganache, and 2 layers of mocha buttercream.

💬 It takes a good amount of time to assemble all of them but your efforts won't be wasted! By making all the thin layers, It creates a delicate texture, making this cake even more delicious.

chill the cake in a fridge:

Now, set it aside in a fridge until the ganache and buttercream are set completely for at least one hour.

I like to let it rest overnight this time so that the coffee syrup spreads all over the sponge evenly.

Chocolate Glaze

Melt the chocolate and add oil.

Mix gently so that it doesn’t contain a lot of air bubbles.

And check the temperature. When it feels slightly warm, pour on a cake right away. The cake should be taken out from the fridge right before and still very cold.

💬 The combinations of the temperatures are very important. So for example, when the cake is freezing cold, you need a warmer chocolate glaze. 

This is a very nervous point. Cry-max of the show! (I feel nervous every time I do it too.)

💬 Once the chocolate reaches the temperature, don’t hesitate and use it right away before it cools down too much.

Right after you pour all the chocolate glaze, spread it thinly with a spatula. I move it back and forth a few times like in the image below. Check out the video tutorial to see how I exactly move a spatula.

Do it quickly before the chocolate starts getting hard!

You can also use my chocolate mirror glaze recipe if you want a more shiny glaze.

Drawing on top:

As an option, draw on top with melted chocolate or the extra chocolate glaze that fell on a tray. 

📌 How To Slice An Opera Cake

1. Dip a knife in the hot water. (or heat a knife with a torch)
2. Wipe a knife with a towel or paper.
3. Hold a knife straight and slide it down
4. Pull off a knife when it went all the way down.
5. Wipe a knife and repeat.

You can also slice into rectangles, squares... any shapes and sizes you like depending on the occasion!

💡 I recommend leaving it for about 10 minutes or more at room temperature before you eat it. It'll feel softer and melts slowly in the mouth. 

Opera cake is so rich and flavorful. The generous amount of chocolate, coffee, almond, butter, and cognac. The elegance is concentrated in one bite. If people ask what would be the most luxurious cake, I may pick this one.

📌 Frequently Asked Questions

📌 VIDEO: Opera Cake

Watch this video to learn how to make the opera cake more in detail, getting a deeper understanding of each process!

Don't forget to subscribe if you liked it😉

NOTE

This is one of the cakes that made me realize so many things: I didn’t know I would like a cake with tons of alcohol or a sponge with a crazy amount of syrup. It also taught me the thickness, portions, and shapes of each element change the taste and experience of a whole dessert drastically.

Although it takes time to make this cake, it pays off when you eat it. And the feeling of accomplishment!!! It is a great cake to practice a lot of techniques such as how to use a spatula, paying attention to the temperatures of the melted chocolate or cake, etc.

Don’t worry about making mistakes or getting messy. It happens all the time including myself! Practice some time and you get better each time. 100%.

💬 If you loved this recipe, please share your feedback on this post! I always love to hear how you enjoyed it at home with your friends and family.

📌 Printable Recipe

You may also like:

Chocolate Recipes

Classics Recipes

Basics Recipes

Other classic recipes:

Fruit Tart

Lemon Madeleine

Pastry Cream

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