I don’t usually partake in new year’s resolutions. I think any day is a great day to set new goals for yourself. But over the past few days, I set out to make a grand, chocolate-filled New Year’s dessert. To symbolize the sweetness and joy of the new year and to fight the idea that New Year’s is a time to diet and restrict yourself. I wanted the most rich, sugar-filled, luxurious cake imaginable. So, I decided on a coffee and chocolate opera cake, the epitome of refined French desserts. Perfectly balanced components, tempered chocolate, and gold foil garnish. Things did not go smoothly – but the important thing is that it turned out so delicious!

New Year’s Eve

On New Year’s Eve I went to bed early, lit a candle, and watched a movie. I was relaxed and immersed in a new world. I nearly forgot it was the turn of a new year. But at midnight I glanced at the clock and thought about time. I remembered New Year’s Eve in 2019/2020, when I gathered with friends in a house we were sitting. We had alcohol and a lavish dinner and we wore our best clothes, armed with great expectations for 2020.

I had no idea that the next few years would include a pandemic and mental health struggles. That night, when everyone went to bed, I stayed up very late with a book in hand, unable to fight off my party-induced excitement. In the morning, after sleeping no more than a couple hours, I finished my book at a local breakfast joint and got a haircut. It was a magical day, despite being too tired to keep my eyes open. I was so optimistic about the future. 

Not to say that the years after were terrible, or wasted, but they were filled with hard lessons. Losing friends, moving back home. Being diagnosed with ADHD and OCD. I dove deep into my career and “making something” of myself, with the goal and expectation of becoming some kind of overnight success. A Cinderella story. I worked way too hard and way too much. Painted to the point of burnout. Forgot what I loved and why I was doing it. Lately I’ve been reflecting a lot on self-criticism and comparing myself to others. And the idea of “success”. The thing we probably covet most in life. 

The Idea of Success

My idea of success has always been multifaceted. A big house. Plenty of money. A thriving career with public recognition and creative freedom. But I have also seen success as finding love, finding friends, having a thriving community, travel, being free. Many of these things have taken me so long to find, or I’ve put them on a pedestal. I’ve resented living at home and taken it out on my parents. I’ve viewed happiness as a far-off concept, or a result of miraculous things happening. And I haven’t let myself be happy with what I have. But something changed this year. 2025 is my year of being happy. Without these grand ideas of “success” that I’ve always pressured myself to achieve. 

My new resolution is to take my time. To be more grateful. To throw society’s idea of “success” and happiness out the window. I am successful because I spend most days doing what I love. I am successful because I spend most days with people I love. There are so many amazing things in my life. And I don’t have to wait anymore to feel happy. I don’t need a perfect house or a perfect body or a sitcom-esque group of friends in a big city to be happy. I’m allowed to love my life right now. Spending time alone at night watching movies. Walking on brisk winter days. Cooking and baking for no reason while listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I’m giving myself permission in 2025 to love my life. 

Chocolate Opera Cake Planning

So, to celebrate the joy and appreciation I have for life in 2025, I decided to make one of my favorite desserts. Coffee and chocolate opera cake. I made it for the first time a couple years ago and my mom has been asking for more ever since. I decided to make a double chocolate opera cake this time, with extra coffee, chocolate almond cake, coffee chocolate ganache, and coffee buttercream. Perfectly layered opera cake with delineated stripes, a bomb of coffee flavor. And a stunning gold-foil chocolate garnish, with elaborate tempered chocolate garnish. 

I started my recipe early in the week because I’m preparing to teach another painting class on Sunday. So, I did a lot of research on opera cake and refined my recipe. I studied chocolate sponge cake recipes and Swiss roll techniques to craft the perfect chocolate cake layer. I decided to infuse my chocolate ganache with espresso, and to create a coffee buttercream. For the next few minutes I found all the ingredients to prepare. I would make my cake last so I could soak it in coffee syrup the second it came out of the oven.

I threw together an easy chocolate ganache and let it sit on the counter to thicken into a frosting-consistency. Then, I made my coffee syrup by brewing espresso in the new moka pot I got for Christmas, and boiling it down with sugar and extra espresso powder. I saved it from boiling over like a kid’s volcano science project a few times. When it thickened into a syrup I poured it into a pyrex measuring cup and let it sit.

Ganache + Buttercream

Then, the difficulty level turned up and I began making my coffee buttercream. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to make a meringue buttercream for my opera cake instead of just mixing softened butter with powdered sugar and coffee extract. Long story short, over the course of two days, I couldn’t whip egg whites to save my life. My recipe just utilizes good old American buttercream below to save you the effort.

I started my meringue buttercream by whipping egg whites and sugar with a hand mixer. I forgot to cook the mixture first, and noticed it wasn’t doing much. So I added a little cream of tartar and salt to help. Still, nothing. So, instead of just logically putting it into a dish over a double boiler and properly cooking it, I threw my mixing bowl into a warm oven. I spent the next hour with a potholder, taking my cumbersome bowl in and out and whipping it with an overheated hand mixer.

Still, it wouldn’t whip. So, after taking my butter sticks out too late, they were about halfway softened, and I decided the cold temperature might help if I just mixed it in. Impulsively I added the butter and whipped it up into an odd split mixture. Then, I spent nearly thirty minutes warming it up until it melted, whisking the lumps out, and then popped it in the fridge to chill. I gave up for the day, and hoped it would fix itself.

Whipping Egg Whites (Trying To)

Then, I had to whip more egg whites for my cake batter. So, I did all the same things wrong. I added my sugar too fast and they were too cold. They barely thickened after 20 or so minutes of whipping. I stubbornly refused to use my stand mixer, in a stand-off with my dirty dishes. The hand mixer was ready to blow. Frustrated, I finally decided to just use my soupy whipped egg whites in my coffee chocolate opera cake batter. I spread the batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and baked it for 10 minutes. I pulled out a sad, floppy, muddy brown cake. My chocolate opera cake needed to be perfect. Maybe not perfect, but better than this. 

I was exhausted and wrapped everything up for the day when the sun set. I threw everything into the fridge to forget about it for a few hours. The next day, I took my ganache out after a bad night of sleep to soften. I also pulled out my espresso syrup, and confronted my coffee buttercream. It had thickened into a custard-texture, which seemed promising. So, I broke out the hand mixer again and almost couldn’t look as it whipped. Miraculously, it thickened into a ribbony frosting. No lumps or curds. It tasted magical. So, I tentatively set it aside and moved on to my cake. I would get it right this time. I started by measuring my dry ingredients again and mixing eggs with sugar. Then, I added the dry ingredients. All that was left was to fold in whipped egg whites. 

Assembling the Coffee Chocolate Opera Cake

And for the third time, I struggled to whip them. I tried to use warmed whites this time and added my sugar gradually. I threw in a little cream of tartar for good luck. Still, not much happened. I groaned and almost gave up, blaming the temperature. The hand mixer. Then I found myself popping my bowl in and out of the oven to warm up my egg whites again. I whipped it for over 30 minutes until I nearly beat the sense out of science. I had a half-whipped, soft-peak meringue. Good enough.

So, I folded in my egg whites and had a silky, aerated cake batter. It was a little too loose, but I didn’t really care. I was going to make it work. It baked for 10 minutes and developed an uneven hump from a patch of unmixed meringue. I persisted anyway. I cut my cake into three rectangles and soaked it with my warm syrup. Forgetting to put my cake on a serving stand first.

My heart sank when I realized I had to lift it up and move it. Soggy cake. So, to live in denial, I just decided to make the whole cake as fast as possible so I could finally move on with my day. At nearly 2 pm. I spread on my buttercream, added another cake layer, soaked it, then added ganache, another cake layer, more frosting, and cake. I bravely hoisted my cake from underneath with an offset spatula onto a baking dish. Surprisingly, it went well. It was a cold day, so I set my opera cake outside to firm up.

Taste Test

I cleaned for a bit and left it to chill. Some of the buttercream slipped out when I wasn’t looking. Long story short, I spent the next hour popping it in and out of the freezer and taking somewhat out of focus photos. I melted chocolate for the top, forgoing the difficult tempering technique. I sliced my chocolate opera cake and let the pieces chill again. My frosting refused to get firm. I felt frustrated, exhausted, and hungry.

So, I tasted some scraps. It was beautiful and filled with coffee flavor. Suddenly I wondered how I slipped back into such a toxic perfectionist mindset. It was fine. Better than fine. Sure the layers weren’t even. But it was so delicious. My chocolate opera cake is a little more chocolatey than the original, and filled with punches of coffee flavor. It’s perfect for me, and my mom. So, I’m happy. Making mistakes has taught me a lot. And I’m done striving for perfection. 

Next time I’m throwing together a simple chocolate opera cake batter and an American buttercream. And I want to save coffee syrup to soak the slices of opera cake to add even more coffee flavor. I’m going to focus and take my time. Be patient with myself and with my egg whites. I don’t know what may go wrong, but at the end of the day I’ll have something delicious to eat. A good metaphor for 2025.

Imperfect on Purpose

I was going to write about diet culture and not giving into the herd mentality that you have to be ripped or skinny to be happy. So many people are joining gyms right now and punishing themselves for eating treats during the holidays. But I say go easy on yourself. Accept yourself now. You don’t need to change. Just like my opera cake, you are probably not perfect, and you shouldn’t be.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recipes and paintings, be sure to check out my Etsy. Use code THEFORKEDRING for 25% off art prints and recipe cards. Happy new year!

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Chocolate Opera Cake

A rich chocolate cake opera cake with ganache and coffee frosting

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Keyword chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies, coffee bun, coffee recipes, opera cake

Prep Time 4 hours hours

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp + 3 tsp coffee extract
• 4 tbsp + 1 tsp espresso powder
• 12 oz + 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate 70-80%
• 1/2 tsp + 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup strong espresso
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp white sugar
• 2 sticks soft unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cups + 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 4 whole eggs
• 4 tbsp melted butter, warm
• 1 cup fine almond flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp AP flour
• 5 egg whites

Instructions

• To make ganache, heat heavy whipping cream, 1 tsp coffee extract, and 1 tsp espresso powder in a stock pot over medium-high heat until bubbly.
• Place chopped chocolate pieces (or chocolate chips) in a heat-proof bowl. Add 1/2 tsp salt and pour on hot heavy whipping cream and espresso mixture. Let stand for 1 minute to melt.
• Mix ganache with a whisk until homogenous. Cover and let stand while preparing the rest of the cake layers.
• To make coffee buttercream, beat softened butter with 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar in a stand mixer on low until combined. Then, turn up mixture to medium speed and beat for 2-3 minutes.
• On low speed, add 3 tsp coffee extract and a pinch of salt. Set coffee buttercream aside until ready to use.
• Preheat oven to 425°F. In a stock pot, combine strong espresso, water, 4 tbsp espresso powder, and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Cook over medium-high heat, being careful that it doesn't overflow, for about 10 minutes until thickened and syrupy. Remove from heat until ready to use.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine 4 eggs, melted butter, almond flour, cocoa powder, AP flour, 1 tsp salt, and 2/3 cup powdered sugar. Whisk until combined.
• In a separate bowl or stand mixer, whip 5 egg whites on low until foamy, about 2-3 minutes. Turn up the mixer speed and gradually add 3 tbsp white sugar until egg whites whip into medium/stiff peaks.
• Fold egg whites into chocolate cake base with a spatula, being careful not to deflate the batter. Transfer to a lightly greased parchment-lined baking sheet and smooth until level.
• Bake for 8-12 minutes until cake springs back when touched.
• Remove cake from oven and flip cake onto your work surface, cake-side down. Carefully remove parchment.
• Cut your cake into 3 equal rectangular pieces, measuring on the long side. Place onto a plastic-wrap-covered work surface or baking dish.
• Brush 1/4 of your coffee syrup onto the first cake rectangle with a pastry brush until soaked. Top with 1/2 of your coffee buttercream and smooth into an even layer. Then, top with your next cake layer and soak with more of the coffee syrup. It is helpful to chill each layer before adding the next to ensure evenness. If you do, make sure to soak all cake layers while warm.
• On top of your second cake layer, smooth your chocolate ganache until even and level and chill until firm. Then, top with your last cake layer, which should be soaked. Finally, top your last cake layer with the rest of your coffee buttercream and set the whole cake in the fridge until firm.
• Melt the rest of your semi-sweet chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl until runny. Add a little melted butter or coconut oil if your chocolate is too thick. Pour over the top of your opera cake evenly and set until firm.
• Trim the edges of your opera cake 1/4" on every side to create perfect, flat edges. Then, cut your opera cake into 10 equal slices and soak the slices with any remaining coffee syrup.