Plant-based opéra with dates
Discover Chef Anna Plagens' Plant-Based Opera Cake with Dates (vegan, gluten-free, and sweetened exclusively with dates).
Download the recipe
Opéra
- 34 x 34 cm chocolate frame 1
- 10 mm frames 3
- 4 mm frame 1
- 2 mm frame 1
Chocolate with dates
- 100% cocoa paste (Valrhona) 600 g
- Date sugar 300 g
- Cocoa butter 100 g
Blend all the ingredients thoroughly until the mixture starts to become more liquid.
Place in a conche for 24 to 36 hours.
(This recipe can also be made using Valrhona Guanaja 70%, but the chocolate content contains 30% refined sugar)
Gluten-free date cookie
- Corn starch 150 g
- Almond flour 250 g
- Date sugar 120 g
- Baking powder 15 g
- Rock salt 2 g
- Flavorless oil 90 g
- Gluten-free oat drink 450 g
- Cider vinegar 12 g
- Cooked and peeled sweet potato 50 g
- Ground psyllium husks 5 g
- Flaxfiber (Sosa) 10 g
- Mineral water 150 g
Mix the first 5 dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Emulsify the oil, oat drink, cider vinegar, sweet potato, psyllium, and Flaxfiber until you obtain a thick mousse.
Then stir in the mineral water and mix with the dry ingredients.
Spread the mixture out immediately into 3 cookies in a 4 mm praline frame on a baking mat, and bake at 170°C for approx. 12 minutes.
Coffee cream
- Date syrup 150 g
- Gluten-free oat drink 500 g
- Corn starch 80 g
- NOROHY coffee bean paste 18 g
- Tadoka vanilla 1 piece
- Vegan Block (Naturli butter substitute) 430 g
The Vegan Block can be replaced by 170g coconut oil, 160g cocoa butter, and 100g flavorless oil.
Bring the date syrup to the boil with the oat drink and cornstarch, stirring constantly.
Cool to 50 degrees, then carefully incorporate the coffee paste, Tadoka vanilla, and Vegan Block.
Cover with plastic wrap and leave to cool completely.
Use in a stand mixer, beating several times to achieve maximum volume.
Coffee syrup
- Water 350 g
- Dates 120 g
- Vanilla bean, opened and scraped 1
- Organic concentrated liquid coffee extract 15 g
Bring all the ingredients to the boil and leave to infuse for 20 minutes, then blend and strain through a fine sieve.
Discard the date and vanilla fibers.
Ganache
- Chocolate with dates 225 g
- Gluten-free oat drink 250 g
- Vegan Block (Naturli) 100 g
Bring the oat drink to the boil and make a ganache with the chocolate, then stir in the Vegan Block and use immediately.
Chocolate glaze
- Chocolate with dates 220 g
- Cocoa butter 20 g
- Coconut oil 100g
Melt the chocolate at a low temperature. When it reaches 34°C, add the cocoa butter and emulsify with the coconut oil.
Place a 10 mm Valrhona chocolate frame on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and add the cookie to it, skin side down. Brush with coffee syrup and spread with half the coffee cream. Smooth with a spatula (spreader) and add another 10 mm frame.
Position the second cookie and brush with coffee syrup.
Spread the ganache evenly on the top and smooth out using the spreader.
Add another new 10 mm frame, position the last cookie, and brush with coffee syrup.
Spread with the remaining coffee cream, smooth out using the spreader and add the 2 mm frame, briefly cooled if necessary.
Pour on the glaze and leave to set.
Carefully release the frame using the tip of a knife before removing it.
Then, use a hot knife to cut into 3 x 11 cm wide strips.
Cut each strip into 9 pieces (11 x 3.5 cm), and decorate with the word ‘Opéra’ and/or gold powder as desired.
Anna Plagens
Pastry ChefAnna Plagens’ interest in pastry-making was inspired by sweet memories of her mother and grandmother baking cakes for birthdays and family celebrations. Delicious food brings people together and is often synonymous with conviviality. It was these moments that nurtured her passion for pastry-making from an early age. After an apprenticeship in Alsace, at the Husser pastry shop in Guebwiller, she continued her training at the CFA in Colmar. Her career took her to Vienna, Austria, where she helped open the Coburg and worked at Demel, which is famous for its Sacher cake. In Paris, she joined Pierre Hermé’s team, with a particular focus on textures and dessert architecture. After five years in France, and with her BM (or postgraduate-level technical degree) in her pocket, she returned to Germany to open the Pâtisserie du Bonheur in Berlin. Anna draws her inspiration from conversations with her team and customers, as well as from social media trends. As the mother of a little boy, she is careful to minimize the amount of industrial sugar in her creations. Nuts are her favorite ingredients, while vanilla in all its forms remains her favorite NOROHY product for its comforting fragrance. Anna’s store is a benchmark for French pastry-making in Berlin, offering classics such as the éclair, tarte au citron and Paris-Brest. For NOROHY Gallery, Anna has dreamt up a daring version of the opera cake. In her iteration, it is vegan, gluten-free and contains zero industrial sugar. It is a real feat for healthier pastries and means everyone can enjoy a revisited classic. The chef regularly revises her recipes in line with Reasonable Indulgence principles.
