All the dramas of Opera

Once again another challenge that took me by surprise. Can’t say I have eaten a lot of Opera cake in my time, or had any inclination to make opera cake. From first read, I was somewhat daunted at the task of making such a fancy sounding cake. I’ve never made anything with layers (besides lasagna) until joining the Daring Baker posse. A number of dramas were in play, in true opera fashion, from delayed starts, forgetting key ingredients, an unfortunate accident with an innocent looking vanilla bean and stupidity on my part when it came to following instructions. Despite the friendly reminder (from our fearless leaders this month) to read through the instructions very carefully, my aversion to anything remotely mathematical (this time fractions) altered my end result. I kind of cut one of my slices in half, before reading more thoroughly the instructions about the whole two thirds and two, one thirds making another two thirds. Very confusing stuff. I needed some help with that formula from my trusty friend Kitty.
Pity I didn’t think to ring her before I made the fatal incision. Hurrah for Kitty though.













Regardless of my reckless additional layer, I was pleasantly surprised by the end result. The taste was a real delight. I will confess to having very little faith in the appeal of an Opera cake, so I let my fellow work colleagues take the first bite, before I tried a piece. I was more surprised then anyone else how lovely and light tasting it was. The whole white thing wasn’t that exciting enough for me, I’m a bit of a dark chocolate fan so I thought lemon syrup and vanilla buttercream might be wishy washy, but I take it all back now. Opera cake was a real hit with the punters at work and I was kindly serenaded with operatic thanks for my efforts.












What I learnt making Opera cake

1. One should wear safety glasses when working with vanilla pods - I flicked a big chunk of vanilla seeds in to my eye………..ouch. Quite a nasty kick for such a subtle flavor.

2. Remember to read instructions more thoroughly, especially when mathematics are involved.

3. Modern appliances are amazing. This time I was all prepared with my spunky new red mixer, isn’t she real pretty. What excitement. When the directions say beat for six minutes until voluminous and pale, voila, it actually happens and without a dead arm on my part. I just need to let go of my guilt for selling out on all the sisters out there that still do it hard without fancy appliances.

New York sure knows a thing or two about Cheesecake

This months Daring Bakers challenge was a lot of work but also a lot of fun to eat. Chocolate and baked cheesecake – pure genius, what an excellent combination. As for getting fancy with decorations and all that other jazz, that countless Daring Bakers will awe me with their creations, unfortunately my creative powers eluded me (possibly because my brain was addled with pain killers from putting my neck out) and unfortunately interesting ingredients also eluded me since it was a public holiday and all the shops were shut.










I just knew this cheesecake was going to be good, with vast quantities of cream cheese and eggs, and then vanilla extract and cream added in to the mix. I had a good feeling about this combination. I was really happy with the end result. I’m quite partial to baked cheesecakes and think they are clearly superior to anything requiring gelatin. I’m not sure if my conversions were a bit dodgy (I’m really not that good at maths) but I ended up with an obscene amount of cheesecake. Don’t get me wrong I’m definitely not complaining, obscene amounts of cheesecake is a very good thing. Perfect in fact, as I needed to get together a birthday cake, so I used some of the mix for a second and smaller cake.






















Clearly my cheesecake pops are not going to win any beauty competitions, but please note it is what is on the inside that counts and they were truly beautiful on the inside, my stomach and taste buds will account for that.

Here’s a photo also of my Birthday cheesecake complete with chocolate cheesecake balls on top and gooey caramel I made and drizzled all over.. yummmmmmm











Important things I leant from making Cheesecake pops

1. New Yorkers really know a thing or two about cheesecake. If this is a true New York cheesecake, then I’m moving to New York to see if I can exist on a diet of cheesecake and pretzels. Three cheers for New York and their exceptional cheesecake and three cheers and a big thank you to Elle and Deborah for a sensational recipe. I’m keeping it.

2. You need to be quick when working with tempered chocolate. - I’m not sure if it was the quality or quantity of shortening and chocolate I used, or how long I kept my pops in the freezer but my chocolate set instantly. No real time for dipping my pops in anything or any real chance that anything would have actually stuck

3. I still need a mixer and a bigger mixing bowl. - I kind of made a huge mess trying to mix such massive quantities with a hand held beater and in a medium sized bowl.