The extra special thing about this month’s challenge is that it is dedicated to Barbara of winosandfoodies.com. A cancer survivor herself, and an ex-DBC member, Barbara had chipped in her bit for LiveSTRONG – Lance Armstrong’s foundation for helping Cancer patients by hosting ‘The Taste Of Yellow’.
Having given up eggs since some time, I decided to go eggless this time. For the original recipe please visit Ivonne here.
I adapted the recipe from eggless recipes.com
The first time I made the cake exactly as the recipe said and it turned out too sweet – more like a barfi, so I made a few changes and used the recipe I am giving here:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup caster sugar (1/2 should have been perfect)
- 4 tbs. sour cream
- 1/2 cup ground almonds
- 1/2 cup milk
I would love to cut cakes in two layers without breaking it! Can someone give a suggestion as to how that’s to be done?
FOR THE SYRUP:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- About 1/2 cup liquid reserved from 7 dried apricots immersed in water
- 1 small stick of cinnamon
Boiled the mixture with the cinnamon till the sugar dissolved and simmered for another 2 minutes. I poured it over all the layers. On second thought I also filled both the layers with a apricot fruit cream.
FOR THE FRUIT CREAM:
- 8 dried apricots immersed in water
- 2 to 3 tbsp. cream (I found a muscat heavy cream in Shoprite)
- Sugar to balance the sweetness
FOR THE GLAZE:
- 1/2 cup icing sugar/confectioners sugar
- 1/4 cup butter
- toasted flaked almonds
- 1 tbsp. milk
Assembling:
I cut the cake into two layers and then 4 bricks. We ate up most of the cake and agreed to leave some for the assemblage. I drizzled syrup over the warm cake, and then filled in some fruit cream. Arranged the bricks and poured the glaze.
I have done a lot things by feel and not exact measure, as the quantity of syrup, glaze and cream required was very less.
My notes:
The second time the cake came out yum, but was drastically short of sugar. I reduced the sugar as I was sure the syrup would make the cake sweeter. Next time I shall use 1/2 instead of 1/4th.
I still haven’t mastered the art of cutting a cake neatly into two layers (among other things;)). Any suggestions will be welcomed!
As for the glaze or icing, I still prefer sticking to the chocolate ganache!
I would have done the white chocolate ganache, but wasn’t able to find it in the stores here.
Thanks, Ivonne, despite the grumbling, I actually enjoyed doing this!
Looks gorgeous, sounds terribly difficult
of course you are the daring one 
Congrats on completing the challenge! looks like you had a lot of fun! Good job!
Great job Sunshine Mom! This was a tough one for we Alternative Bakers, but yours looks beautiful. I am still trying to figure out how to make mine look less ridiculous in the photos…
Cake looks great, nice recipe. thanxxxx for sharing!!!
Pretty cake & what a great looking joconde my dear. Well done…come back soon from work!!! Cheers
Nice job! I love how your cake did turn out so light! I used almond flour, but it still looks dark compared to others.
I love the texture of your joconde. I’m trying your recipe the next time.
Will wait for the update. Btw, the only icing and decorating I’ve evr done is for the DBs and I’m slowly learning!
Thanks all
Sandeepa, it’s not all that difficult, I guess I am just learning the ropes to icing:)
Farida, yes, I must admit it was fun!
Shellyfish, that the best among the lot, and none of the pics came out well
Madhavi – glad that you liked it!
Deeba, someone heard you, and I unexpectedly came home early;)
Honey – I ground the almonds at home, and increased the quantity of baking powder a little the second time!
Aparna, I too liked the joconde. You could use a little more sugar, as the second time round I reduced the quantity as I was going to pour some syrup over the cake! As for learning, you have a fellow student in me:)
Hi, Visiting ur blog first time. U have a yummy and lovely blog.
That cake is positively yummy. Would be great in the afternoon when the sweet tooth fairy attacks ……
Cool cake, you girls are really working hard on this Opera cake. Good job!:)
Wow..eggless??? you are a real “daring” bakers… looks so smooth
Wow look at the jaconde crumb girl…light and so fluffy…
Congragulations with the challange.
You girls have out done this time by making such a wonerful not to meantion difficult cale.
Glaze or not, it’s a gorgeous cake! Very pretty!
I think using apricots is a great idea
!
P.S. I just posted the dairy free recipe for my cake
, so the sponge recipe is posted too 
.
Real challenge this cake, came out pretty good and love the flavour
Sireesha, welcome – I had a friend I am trying to locate by the same name:)
Asha – yep! did a bit of work on that one!
Zita – Welcome! I joined just to convince myself it isn’t as daunting!
Rachel – we did justice to the crumbs:)
Elle, Cham and Happy cook – Thanks!
Beautiful cake and the apricot cream sounds delicious!
Hey, great job on your opera cake…daring indeed!!
I usually cool the cake completely and keep it in either the freezer (for a quicker job) or in the fridge (if i have patience) for sometime before cutting the cake into layers..if the cake is still warm while attempting to cut, it will crumble…hope this helps!
Great job!!
Great job on the challenge.
To cut into layers, cool the cake completely the cut with a serrated knife. I have also heard you can use dental floss to cut but I have not tried. Wilton also make a cake cutter.
http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E30D67E-475A-BAC0-5792C543763E855E&fid=78510F78-475A-BAC0-5DD469DF1DB0367C
Maggie, Sophie – Thanks for visiting…I tried apricot cream for the first time and was pleasantly surprised as it strikes just the right note with almonds:)
jz – thanks, I tried that and still make a mess of it:)
madcupcake – I love your name and thanks for visiting:)
Franz – i will try the dental floss thing next time – thanks for visiting:)
Once again I would like to thank all the people who came here and made my day – you ppl. rock:)
Great effort there! Your cake looks very tempting.
Roma – thanks and welcome:)