When I discovered that the Daring Bakers would be doing an Opera Cake for our May challenge (hosted by Lis of La Mia Cucina, Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, Fran of Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie, and Shea of Whiskful you know the drill, go check them out) I was ridiculously excited. I had seen these elegant cakes before and always wondered how they tasted and how such elegant and lovely cakes were created. I had never made one because a)I was too chicken to attempt making one and b) I knew that if I made one that I would eat it and my thighs would expand exponentially. I knew that now was the time for me to make it. See, now I have a husband, and in-laws who gather on a frequent basis and I had season tickets to the opera. You can't bring an opera cake to the opera, but when I go to the opera I see my best friend T and my family so I can always drop off goodies there.
The biggest rule of all was that we had to make a light opera cake. It had to be light in color and flavor. This meant massive amounts of white chocolate. Call me crazy, but I'm a dark chocolate girl. White chocolate really isn't my thing. But I was game so I thought and thought and thought (by this time half the DBers were done with their cakes). And I had a terrible time figuring out what flavor to pick. Well, until I was sort of reorganizing my cupcake supplies, sprinkles, liners, et al. and I saw my tiny jar of guavaberry honey tucked away.
So my flavor for the cake was guavaberry. Don't confuse guavas with guavaberry. Guavaberry is indigenous to the Carribean and the Brain and I picked up our guavaberry honey and liquor (and a big fat bottle of guavaberry rum) from this great shop that we were drinking in as soon as we docked. Well, we were "sampling" in. Guavaberries are a sort of tart tasting fruit that almost reminds me of a cranberry, but much much sweeter. The berries have a very large stone and a thin layer of pulp. It is also very labor intensive to pick these fruits. That's why they are so rare and if you get the chance to go to Sint Maartin, go to the Guavaberry Emporium and pick up the honey and the liquor and the rum. Oh heck, everything there is super delicious.
So I made the cake and it was delicious. And I made the buttercream and flavored it with guavaberry honey and it was such a lovely blush pink color. And I made the syrup for soaking the cake with guavaberry liquor. And I melted the white chocolate with no problems and made the mousse flavored with guavaberry liquor and it turned out a little darker of that beautiful blush color. And I assembled the cake and stuck it in the fridge while I made the white chocolate glaze flavored with guavaberry liquor and again with the lovely pink. And then I sprinkled my brand new butterfly sprinkles on top and I was happy. I mean please, it was a pink cake with butterflies, what's not to be happy about?
The biggest rule of all was that we had to make a light opera cake. It had to be light in color and flavor. This meant massive amounts of white chocolate. Call me crazy, but I'm a dark chocolate girl. White chocolate really isn't my thing. But I was game so I thought and thought and thought (by this time half the DBers were done with their cakes). And I had a terrible time figuring out what flavor to pick. Well, until I was sort of reorganizing my cupcake supplies, sprinkles, liners, et al. and I saw my tiny jar of guavaberry honey tucked away.
So my flavor for the cake was guavaberry. Don't confuse guavas with guavaberry. Guavaberry is indigenous to the Carribean and the Brain and I picked up our guavaberry honey and liquor (and a big fat bottle of guavaberry rum) from this great shop that we were drinking in as soon as we docked. Well, we were "sampling" in. Guavaberries are a sort of tart tasting fruit that almost reminds me of a cranberry, but much much sweeter. The berries have a very large stone and a thin layer of pulp. It is also very labor intensive to pick these fruits. That's why they are so rare and if you get the chance to go to Sint Maartin, go to the Guavaberry Emporium and pick up the honey and the liquor and the rum. Oh heck, everything there is super delicious. So I made the cake and it was delicious. And I made the buttercream and flavored it with guavaberry honey and it was such a lovely blush pink color. And I made the syrup for soaking the cake with guavaberry liquor. And I melted the white chocolate with no problems and made the mousse flavored with guavaberry liquor and it turned out a little darker of that beautiful blush color. And I assembled the cake and stuck it in the fridge while I made the white chocolate glaze flavored with guavaberry liquor and again with the lovely pink. And then I sprinkled my brand new butterfly sprinkles on top and I was happy. I mean please, it was a pink cake with butterflies, what's not to be happy about?
I had actually made half the cake into a rectangle to share with the Brain's family for the bi-monthly birthday celebration. The rest of the cake I cut into "individual" sized round cakes about 2 inches in diameter. Not wanting to waste the delicious cake scraps I made one tiny little heart shaped pink butterfly opera cake for me to taste.
Wow. That's some rich cake. The heart shaped cake was just the right size for me. I took the round "individual" cakes up to my Mom's and it was decided that one whole cake was far too rich. I shared one with my mom and felt like my teeth were rotting. I took the rectangular cake to the in-laws and the Brain and I both had tiny pieces. The Brain liked the guavaberry flavor, but agreed it was too rich. His sister had one bite of hers and was done. And his mom didn't eat the frosting and declared the cake part to be delicious. I think if I make this again, I would do it with a dark chocolate. I can handle rich, but this cake was far too sweet. It might be lovely if it were cut up like a petit four. I would have to wait until I had some elegant event to take them to.
If anyone has managed to get their hands on some guavaberry honey and guavaberry liquor and wants to know how I flavored it, shoot me an email. Otherwise the recipe is here or here or here or here. And don't forget to check out all the other beautiful and far more delicious opera cakes that are currently posting all over the internet!
Barbara of Winos and Foodies had to leave our Daring Baker group for health reasons and so I dedicate this very pretty pink butterfly opera cake to her. Barbara, I hope you are winning the battle and come back to join us when you can!
Wow. That's some rich cake. The heart shaped cake was just the right size for me. I took the round "individual" cakes up to my Mom's and it was decided that one whole cake was far too rich. I shared one with my mom and felt like my teeth were rotting. I took the rectangular cake to the in-laws and the Brain and I both had tiny pieces. The Brain liked the guavaberry flavor, but agreed it was too rich. His sister had one bite of hers and was done. And his mom didn't eat the frosting and declared the cake part to be delicious. I think if I make this again, I would do it with a dark chocolate. I can handle rich, but this cake was far too sweet. It might be lovely if it were cut up like a petit four. I would have to wait until I had some elegant event to take them to.
If anyone has managed to get their hands on some guavaberry honey and guavaberry liquor and wants to know how I flavored it, shoot me an email. Otherwise the recipe is here or here or here or here. And don't forget to check out all the other beautiful and far more delicious opera cakes that are currently posting all over the internet!
Barbara of Winos and Foodies had to leave our Daring Baker group for health reasons and so I dedicate this very pretty pink butterfly opera cake to her. Barbara, I hope you are winning the battle and come back to join us when you can!
