fromscratch: i love cake!

almond coconut opera cake

opera cake is generally seven layers high, and include three layers of coffee soaked jaconde (almond sponge cake) with layers of coffee flavored buttercream, a layer of chocolate ganache and finally covered with a layer of chocolate glaze.

for this daring bakers challenge, we were to lighten the cake in flavor and color, by omitting the coffee and chocolate and choosing "light" flavors, such as lemon, vanilla, coconut, almond. read more about it.

my cake features a vegan almond flavored "jaconde" soaked with a simple vanilla syrup, coconut buttercream and a dusting of powdered sugar instead of a glaze.

vegan almond "jaconde"

to make the the jaconde, which is generally a sponge cake consisting of half a dozen egg whites and eggs, i turned to bryanna clark grogan's vegan lemon genoise cake. its an excellent recipe and with a few alterations it fit the bill.

here's my adaption:

vegan almond jaconde (adapted from bryanna's vegan lemon genoise cake)

* for this cake you need two full cakes. if you have two pans, prepare both pans in step 2, and while measuring the dry ingredients for the first cake, measure out the dry ingredients for the second cake in a separate large bowl. set aside. also, measure out the second set of wet ingredients and set aside. by doing this, the second cake can be made in a couple of minutes immediately after the first cake is made, poured in the prepared pans and both cakes can be baked at the same time.

2 1/2 c. plus 2 T. cake flour
1 1/2 c. white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. plus 2 T. vegan "butter"
2 T. milk *i added a few drops of coconut flavor to this, you can use coconut milk
1 c. water
3/4 c. milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract

1. preheat oven to 350. if baking two cakes, place one oven rack at upper portion of oven, and second rack in the lower middle portion of oven.

2. prepare two large jelly roll pans for baking. lightly spray the bottom with cooking spray, or grease with "butter," cover the bottom with parchment paper, letting the long edges hang over the pan. this allows for easy removal of the cake. spray/grease the parchment.

3. place all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a mixer. add the "butter," water, and 2 T. of milk. beat well. add remaining ingredients and beat an additional minute.

4. pour the batter into the prepared pan. bake for 25-30 minutes till cake test done with a toothpick and is lightly brown.

once cakes are done allow them to cool on the parchment paper on a cooling rack. the parchment allows the cakes to retain some moisture, but by placing them on the racks the cakes are still allowed to cool more quickly and throughly.

note: if you are making two cakes at a time, you want to make sure and measure two batches of the ingrediants at a time. when baking with chemical leaveners you want to get them in the oven as soon as possible for the best rise. don't skip this step it allows you to "throw" together the second cake in a flash.

while the cake is baking prepare your syrup and butter cream.

simple sugar syrup.

1/2 c. water
1/3 c. white granulated sugar
1-2 T. of flavoring * i used 1 T. of vanilla for this cake

1. place water and sugar in a small sauce pan. stir to desolve sugar.

2. cook over high heat, until it comes to a full rolling boil. stir often.

3. once mixture is boiling, remove from heat and allow to cool to room temp.

4. stir in flavoring right before syrup is to be used. *make sure mixture is cool.

vegan coconut buttercream

2 sticks of vegan "butter" (1 cup), room temp.
2 lb. bag of confectioner's sugar, plus more for thickening if needed
6-8 T. of milk
1 T. plus 1 tsp. of coconut flavoring

1. whip "butter" in mixer until fluffy, about 30 seconds.

2. add the sugar, milk, and flavor. blend on low speed until sugar is incorporated, about a minute. mix at high speed until the frosting is light and fluffy. add more milk or sugar as needed to get desired consistency.

assembling the cake

to assemble the cake, first gather all the components and make sure you have a large work space. you'll need:

1. cakes

2. syrup, cooled

3. buttercream frosting

4. powdered sugar for garnishing, or other garnish

i find the following tools helpful:

1. long serreated knife to cut cakes.

2. a ruler for measuring.

3. pastry brush for brushing on syrup

4. large off set spatula for smoothing buttercream

5. another set of hands for moving and placing cakes, or lots of large spatulas.

assembled tools. from left to right: large off set spatula, small "icing" spatula, pastry brush, sugar syrup, and coconut buttercream.

step 1.

cut the cakes. cut a 10 x 10 square, leaving a 10 x 5 rectangle out of each cake. you should have four pieces in total.

start with one large cake

four cut layers

step 2.

place one of the 10 x 10 cake squares on a piece of parchment. gently brush on sugar syrup.

first cake layer with syrup brushed on.

spread a nice thick layer of buttercream on top of the jaconde.

almond jaconde soaked w/ sugar syrup and them spread with buttercream

step 3.

in the next step we will place the two "small" rectangles side by side on top of the previous buttercream layer to make one layer.

soak these two layers like the previous layer, and spread with another thick layer of buttercream.

second layer of jaconde, syrup and buttercream

step 4.

in this step we will repeat the last two steps, this time placing the final 10x10 jaconde square on top of the previous layer of buttercream, brushing it with syrup and adding a final layer of buttercream.

final layer of jaconde, syrup and buttercream

after step 4, place the cake into the fridge for about 30 minutes or so to firm up and make cutting the cake into a clean rectangle easier.

step 5.

cut your cake into a traditional rectangle or buck tradition and cut your own shape.

nice clean layers

finishing...

to finish generally a opera cake is glazed, however, being that the cut off layers tasted perfect and were already sweet...i decided to just sprinkle with a light dusting of confectioner's sugar.