I added about 4 tbsps of mango puree at the end while beating the buttercream. I used the original recipe and not the revised version suggested. I made the buttercream according to instructions. Making the buttercream – This was where I first got a hint that things were going wrong and this whole Operatic business wasn’t as easy as I thought! The result was lovely cardamom flavoured syrup. I used vanilla extract as flavouring and added about 1 1/2 tsp of powdered cardamom.

So I started off by making the sugar syrup. I also decide to halve the ingredients to make a smaller cake. I decided that this cake should not be too difficult as the various parts could be made on different days and then assembled together. Our hostesses were very kind to give us detailed instructions on making and assembling this cake. The recipe we were to use and a printable version of it can be found here. I’m beginning to think I’m a better photographer (and that’s not saying much) than a baker! Quite cute, don’t you think? Well, don’t be fooled by the picture because my cake looks a lot better here than it actually was. I chose not to make the ganache/ mousse and glazed my cake with white chocolate tinted to a pale green. So I made my cake using a mixture of powdered almonds and cashewnuts (instead of all almond), moistened with cardamom infused sugar syrup and sandwiched the layers with mango buttercream. So all our cakes were to be made using only light flavours and pastel shades of colour rather that the dark and light coloured layers of the typical Opera cake.īarbara is the moving force behind the food blog event called “A Taste of Yellow” in support of Lance Armstrong’s LiveSTRONG Foundation. Lance Armstrong has written a book called “It is Not About the Bike – My Journey Back to Life”which is worth reading if you already haven’t done so.īack to the challenge. We had to follow the provided recipe but were given a full freedom regarding the shape of our cakes, choice of flavouring for the cakes, buttercream and ganache and even the options to leave off the ganache/ mousse or the glaze if we wdid not want to make them. Our hosts are dedicating this month’s challenge to Barbara at Winos and Foodies.

How to make opera cake