I want to utilize my skills and talent and make MY mark. I'm always toying with recipes.I don't want to be some baking automaton that just does what the recipe tells me to. I believe one of the great things about being a PC, is that we have the freedom to use our creativity to put our own signature on the things we make. But are some "right" while others are "wrong"? I don't think so. In my career as a PC, I have seen so many variations on so many classic desserts it makes my head spin. Frenchy so-and-so, and maybe it's now how we learned to do it in pastry school, but if it looks good and tastes good, who cares? So what's "wrong" with that? Maybe it's not the EXACT classic Opera torte created by Mr. Feed it to my friends and family and they like it too. Follow the instructions and it comes out just like the picture. Let's say I decided to try the recipe for the Opera Torte out of Gourmet Magazine. Perhaps this should be topic for a new thread. It's too high, and the topping is swirly as opposed to smooth. The Opera picture on the cover is ALL WRONG. PS: Do not, I repeat, do not look to the September issue of Gourmet Magazine for guidance. (Btw, for both I learned to make the joconde with TPT, and only a few teaspoons of flour) Interestingly, I actually learned L'Opéra (from a French pastry book) as being made with praline buttercream, and a rum soaking syrup, - with the coffee flavor only as a variation, and learned the Clichy made outright with the coffee. So, I guess the answer is anyone can make an opera cake, but it's only a Clichy if it's from Clichy. When Marcel Bugat went to work at Pâtisserie Clichy in 1955, he learned/made the gâteau, and his son Paul Bugat, who took over Clichy in 1970, still to this day makes the signature cake from the original recipe, in the same location where Louis Clichy established his pâtisserie in 1892. Over the years, the Clichy inspired many imitations, most notably the one from Dalloyau, who sold a very similar dessert under the name L'Opéra (in honor of the Paris Opera).Ĭlichy was also responsible for creating other cakes, most notably the Paris. The cake, with Clichy's signature across the top, won a silver medal and became the signature cake of his shop on the boulevard Beaumarchais. Louis Clichy premiered his now famous gâteau at the Exposition Culinaire of 1903 in Paris. To conclude, I would like to pose a question to Confiseur: What is the purpose of diluting the cream w/ milk in your glaze? Why not use pouring cream alone? Recommended to us couverture in the ganache? Butter also? In the glaze, I like to use a Barry-Callebaut for coating, although most often it’s going to be Lindt 70% cocao. flavours.)Īnyway, reverting to the topic at hand: First of all, when making the joconde biscuit, do we use ground almonds, or almond “flour” in the batter? Second, do we use a flavoured 16° syrup or variation thereof? I will readily admit that, in most instances, I’ve somewhat simplified the technique from the get-go by baking a fairly straightforward almond génoise, brushing the layers w/ an coffee syrup (i.e., granulated sugar dissolved in hot espresso Cognac can be added), sandwiching layers & top w/ coffee buttercream, freezing briefly to firm it up covering w/ bittersweet choc ganache, and then, finally, pouring over a glaze (bittersweet + butter). (Although now I think it’s more likely to be either a triple-layer choc cake filled w/ ganache and covered by a Grand Marnier-white choc buttercream or a brown-sugar-&-pecan bourbon torte – w/ the view of targetting some of his fav. My best friend’s birthday will be celebrated later this month, and I was considering the Opéra for that party. Last week I spent some time looking through my notebooks for remarks I’ve recorded on this preparation. I have long-understood that this elegant cake is a registered classic (created a century ago by Clichy), revived by Gaston Lenôtre back in the 1960s. Stscam's glaze ought to provide a nicely glossed finish. I will concur w/ Sinclair & stscam re their preferences for coating a Gâteau Opéra.
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