Eva the Cake Diva: 50,000 Smartie Opera Cake!

Celebrating 50,000 views on the Eva the Cake Diva blog!

Wow, hasn't time just flown by? From very small beginnings, and a few experimental bakes, this blog has grown into something much bigger than I ever thought, and I can't believe I'm now celebrating the milestone of reaching over 50,000 views! Naturally, I thought the best way of showing my appreciation for you all was to make a cake and cover it in 50,000 mini Smarties! Just kidding, although it certainly felt like it at some points!

This has certainly been a surprise though, because when I started this blog almost five years ago, I'd never done anything like this before, and had no idea where it would lead, so I certainly didn't expect this much interest. I had baked a few things here and there, but nothing really serious, and I figured that I could upload a couple of pictures and maybe some friends and family might look at it. Over time, ideas and recipes became more elaborate, taking on more ambitious challenges, as well as trying out new techniques learned along the way from other bakers (I always like to link back to give credit to whoever has inspired me or any techniques I've used from others for any particular bake). There are so many other talented bakers out there making their wonderful work freely available on blogs and videos that have been so useful over the years, helping to spread ideas and inspire others through the years. I hope that my recipes here have also inspired others, and in a few cases, I have heard from you, so I'm very glad if I've been of use! No man is an island, and becoming involved with the baking blogosphere and meeting some great bakers out there has definitely been one of the plus points of starting this blog. It's great to get involved in an community of like-minded people with whom to swap tips and reassuring stories of failed bakes! So it's thanks to all the dedicated bakers out there sharing their ideas that this blog was also made possible.

But of course, I couldn't have done all this without you, the reader. Although you guys have been largely silent (!), seeing a steady stream of views coming in has been reassuring and kept me going during moments of doubt. Sometimes the baking had become a bit sporadic when trying to fit it in alongside studies, exams and living abroad. But seeing the views has always spurred me on, and it's also helped me improve as a baker by seeing which posts get the most response. The ones that have particularly caught your eye are:

The Breaking Bad cake - which used a special stencil to recreate Walter White's face and was my first foray into royal icing
The seemingly inauspicious recipe of Lorraine Pascale's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Zebra Cake, which looks tricky to make, but is actually quite easy providing you get the right ingredients and techniques
The Geology Cake made using Ann Reardon's excellent idea for a sugar geode, indulging in one of my childhood nerdy hobbies!

Each one of these projects were just that - a big assignment, that always turned into something much more in effort, planning and execution than I expected, but usually with some great results that were totally worth it to see the look on people's faces (both before and after eating!). Some of my personal favourites were real labours of love, like the 3D Science Minion cake, the Wrestling cake and the Wedgwood cake.

Thank you to all of you who have shared this journey with me, not least of all my husband who has given me a lot of support and always encouraged me to aim for more. Here's to the next 50,000 views!

Moving on to the actual recipe! I wanted to do something that required a lot of effort, to show my appreciation to you all, and in addition, the rainbow design harks back to the very first recipe that I posted with was rainbow muffins with my friend Donna! I had initially wanted to use mini M & Ms on account of my Nestlé boycott, but after searching high and low for them in the UK, I decided to make a very rare exception, and figured that I had to give in, just once (ok, I admit it, I couldn't afford to import mini M & Ms from America).

The cake inside is an opera cake, which I'd first seen on one of the technical challenges of Great British Bake Off, and also recently in the Bake Off Creme de la Creme. It was something that looked and sounded impressive and refined, so I figured as an amateur baker, I'd have to give it a go. I used the Mary Berry recipe, changing only a few of the ingredients (swapping the almonds for pistachios, and Kirch liqueur for Chambord, a raspberry liqueur that I had lying around the house). You too can swap these things for other nuts or liqueurs as you prefer. I also cheated a little bit with the sponge of the opera cake, because the recipe said to cut it in half horizontal, and I didn't really fancy my chances, and in addition, I wanted a slightly taller cake. So I simply cut my cake into four sections and layered them on top of each other. But if you want to make the traditional opera cake, with the very thin layers, then cut the sponge in half as instructed by Mary.

Ingredients:

For the Chambord syrup

100g/3½fl oz caster sugar

3 tbsp Chambord, or other fruit liquer

For the joconde sponge

3 free-range eggs whites

15g/½oz caster sugar

100g/3½oz ground pistachios (or another nut like almonds)

100g/3½oz icing sugar

3 free-range eggs

30g/1oz plain four, sifted

30g/1oz unsalted butter, melted

For the chocolate ganache

200ml/3½fl oz double cream

200ml/3½fl oz dark or milk chocolate, broken into small pieces

For the crème au beurre

3 free-range egg yolks

75g/2½oz caster sugar

225g/8oz unsalted butter, cubed and softened

2 tsp vanilla paste

2 x bag of 18 boxes mini Smarties

Method:

For the liqueur syrup, tip the sugar into a small pan. Pour over 200ml/7fl oz water and cook over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer for 4-5 minutes, or until the syrup has reduced by half. Remove from the heat, add the liqueur, stir and leave to cool completely.
For the joconde sponge, heat the oven to 220C/425F/Fan 200C/Gas 7. Grease and line a 33x23cm/13x9in Swiss roll tin with baking parchment. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl. Add the caster sugar, one teaspoon at a time, whisking between each addition to make a glossy meringue. Cover with cling film and set aside.
Tip the ground pistachios and icing sugar into the bowl of a free-standing food mixer and add the whole eggs. Whisk together for 3-5 minutes, or until doubled in volume. Fold in the flour, and then gently fold in the meringue in three separate batches. Pour the melted butter down the side of the bowl and fold in, until incorporated. Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and level the surface with a palette knife. Bake for 5-7 minutes until pale, golden-brown and springy to touch.
Place a sheet of baking parchment over a cooling rack and turn the cake out onto it. Peel off the baking parchment from the base of the cake and leave to cool completely.
For the chocolate ganache, pour the cream into a small pan and heat until just bubbling. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth and glossy. Pour into a bowl and leave to set.
For the crème au beurre, place the egg yolks in the bowl of a food mixer with the whisk attached. In a pan over a gentle heat, dissolve the sugar in three tablespoons of water and then boil it steadily until the syrup reaches 110C/225F on a sugar thermometer. With the food mixer running, slowly pour the syrup over the egg yolks. Continue whisking until the mixture is thick and mousse-like. Add the butter, a little at a time, whisking continuously and finally add the vanilla paste.
To assemble, slice the cooled sponge into four equal pieces.
Place one of the sponges on a cake board and brush with the liqueur syrup. Spread over one-third of the crème au beurre. Top with another sponge and brush with the liqueur syrup. Spread over a layer of chocolate ganache.
Top with a third sponge and brush with more of the liqueur syrup. Spread over another third of the crème au beurre and top with the final sponge. Brush with the liqueur syrup and spread with the remaining crème au beurre.
Refrigerate the opera cake for two hours to set the layers and make it easier to trim. Trim the edges using a sharp knife to reveal the layers. Then cover in the chocolate ganache.
Mark out the design that you would like in the chocolate ganache with a toothpick. I also printed out the numbers in roughly the size and font I wanted as a guide: