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.

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.

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