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opera cake

Welcome to the cake that has terrified me the most. You see, I have two favorite cakes. The first is my Strawberry Summer Stack Cake, the layered strawberry, cream, and butter cake version of the Strawberry Summer Cake in Smitten Kitchen Keepers. The second is the Opera Cake (Gâteau Opéra), a stacked and striped dessert with thin almond cake layers soaked in espresso syrup, chocolate ganache, and a rich espresso buttercream. The difference between the first cake and the second is that the second recipe was never going to happen.

Recipe

opera cake

October 6, 2025January 6, 2026 by deb

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In the nearly two decades of Smitten Kitchen’s existence, I’ve again and again begun researching what a homemade opera cake would entail and every time, slammed the proverbial book shut because it was just too much. A joconde! French buttercream! Soaking syrup! Chocolate layer! Many separated eggs! And what about all of that espresso? There are children present! And elderly people (me) who probably shouldn’t drink coffee after 4pm! If I could barely talk myself into it, how would I convince you? Maybe some things are best left to the professionals, I concluded.

And then one day, I pushed myself in the water and made myself swim. The context is that both of my kids were away at summer camp, so my distractions were at a minimum, and my mother in-law was celebrating her 70th birthday, loves all intersections of chocolate, coffee, and nutty, delicately layered cakes as much as I do, and deserved something special. If not now, when? I cobbled together the recipe components and sweated my way through it. My ulterior motive been that by the end, I’d hoped to be able to make an argument for why easier layers (perhaps just a simple butter cake?) or buttercream (surely any espresso-flavored quick frosting would work?) would work just as well here and I failed wholly at this goal. I dare you, I absolutely dare you, to try this espresso french buttercream and tell me that you’d like it to be anything else. And then I remembered: I am not here to dim the sparkle of this cake! I am here to bask in it.

Several tests later — oh, what a delicious summer it was — I couldn’t be more delighted with this cake. Here are a few nuts and bolts:

I’ve simplified all that I could here without, I hope, compromising any of its greatness. Wherever the simplest method had excellent results — a quick chocolate-cream ganache, a quick-whisked unheated syrup — I used it.

I use decaf espresso from my little machine so we can enjoy the brewed espresso flavor without (unintentionally) partying all night.

I’ve gotten it down to just four eggs to separate and we’ll use the whites in the cake and the yolks in the frosting — no leftovers.

I’ve evened out as many measurements as possible because I like tidy things like 1 cup of cream and a half-pound of chocolate.

The actual all-purpose flour in the cake is a mere quarter-cup, which you can easily swap with a gluten-free flour mix if needed. (You can see it here!).

Finally, we’re building this 13-layer stunner from two thin, quick-baking 9×13 cake layers, a pan size I bet you already have around.

The result is a small and I think quite dapper opera cake that’s absolute heaven to eat, and that I dare you to dare yourself to make.

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Opera Cake

Servings: 8 to 10
Source: Smitten Kitchen
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Does this cake take 4 to 5 hours to make? Not necessarily. But I want you to give yourself this range of time the first time you make it, just so it doesn’t feel too rushed or stressful, unless you’re one of those weirdos that thrives on that kind of internal chaos. I prefer to make it either the day before, or at least finish it an hour or two before I want to serve it so I can chill the cake, which allows the sides to firm up and makes it easier to trim, revealing those clean striped edges.

Thank you to both Zoe Bakes (for the joconde) and Sprinkles Bakes (for the french buttercream) for their spins on opera cakes, which helped me work out some of the kinks here.

Cake

4 large egg whites (save the yolks)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons (20 grams) plus 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/4 cup (35 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups (160 grams) almond flour

Buttercream

1/2 cup (120 ml) water
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
4 large egg yolks (I told you to save the yolks!)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) espresso, cooled
1 cup (8 ounces or 225 grams) unsalted butter, cut into cubes and softened
Two pinches of salt

Chocolate

8 ounces (225 grams or 1 1/3 cups chocolate chips) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (235 ml) heavy or whipping cream

Syrup

10 tablespoons (150 ml) hot espresso
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (45 ml) brandy or cognac

Make the cake: Heat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line the bottom of two 9×13-inch pans with parchment paper and coat the parchment paper (yes, this extra buffer helps a lot) and the exposed sides of the pan with nonstick spray.

In a mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the 4 egg whites on medium speed until they’re halfway thickened — they should look white, foamy, and show some streaks as the whisk moves through them in the bowl. Running the mixer the whole time, sprinkle in salt, then 1 1/2 tablespoons (20 grams) of the sugar. Increase the speed and beat the egg whites until glossy, stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes more. Scoop the whipped egg whites into a second bowl for now, and return the empty mixing bowl to the electric mixer. [No need to wash the bowl or whisk here.]

Add 4 whole eggs and remaining 3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar to the empty bowl and whip together on high speed until light in color and texture and and thickened ripples form in the batter as the whisk moves through the bowl, about 8 to 10 minutes. If you’re unsure, it doesn’t hurt to beat the mixture a minute longer. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the flour with a flexible spatula, followed by the almond flour, half at a time. Finally, fold in the whipped egg whites, being careful not to deflate the batter.

Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Bake the cakes until they’re set, about 9 to 13 minutes. Transfer cakes to cooling racks and let them cool completely in the pan. However, I like to run a thin knife carefully around the cake’s sides before it cools as it has a tendency to stick, even when greased well.

Make the buttercream: In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water and 3/4 cup sugar, then turn heat to high and boil, cooking (without stirring) until mixture reaches 238°F (114°C) (aka the soft ball candy stage) and remove from the heat.

In a mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg yolks for 2 minutes on a medium-high speed to loosen them. With the mixer running, add the hot sugar syrup to the yolks in a slow, thin stream (if you can, aim for the middle as the sugar syrup that lands on the sides of the bowl just hardens there), beating until combined. Add the espresso and beat until combined. Let the mixture cool to close to room temperature. You can hurry this along, as I like to, by placing some ice packs around the mixing bowl and running the machine on low (so it cools evenly and not just at the edges).

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