The only fitting dessert for The Phantom of the Opera is an opera cake.

I've always wanted to make an opera cake. They're gorgeous, but they typically take 2 days to make (it's 7-10 layers, all of which are thin and delicate!), and most people just don't have that kind of time to make a cake, myself included. This cake took about 6 hours to make, which is nowhere near as ridiculous as the classic cake, but it was still a long time.

Kind of like reading the book versus watching the movie. The book, like the original opera cake, will always be better because you spend more time with it, and there are so many more layers.

(See what I did there?)

The movie is still amazing though. All of the versions are. And don't even get me started on the play or the soundtrack!

Any version of this cake is going to be amazing. It's almost impossible to go wrong with dark chocolate, almond, and coffee.

And, even though it isn't an actual opera cake, I needed to pay homage to the original. So I was going to make a naked layer cake.

I wanted to make it big, too. Mostly because The Phantom of the Opera was such a huge part of my childhood, and because it played a huge part in making me the person I am today, but also because the story itself has become so huge and so well-known.

This cake has two cake layers, two layers of chocolate ganache, and two layers of coffee buttercream. It's also 12 x 19 inches, so you should either make this for a really big crowd, or you should cut the recipe in half and make a smaller version just for yourself.

I wasn't kidding when I said this book made a huge impact on my life, and I wanted this cake to make an impact on other people.

Almond Cake (You'll need to make this twice—once for each layer)

-4 c  all-purpose flour

-2 tsp  baking soda

-1 tsp  salt

-2 1/2 c  light brown sugar, packed

-2 sticks of unsalted butter

-2 eggs

-2 c  buttermilk

-2 tbsp  almond extract

1. Cream together the brown sugar, salt, baking soda, and butter.
2. Whisk in the eggs.
3. Carefully mix in the buttermilk. (It may look a bit curdled, but that smooths right out when the flour is added. I use this batter as the base for a lot of things, and it looks like hat every time.)
4. In parts, whisk in the four until the batter is completely smooth.
5. Add in the almond extract.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan (I prefer using a greasing the pan, then putting in a sheet of parchment paper).
7. Bake the cake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.
8. Let the cake cool.
9. Transfer onto a cake board and remove the parchment paper (if you used it).
10. Repeat steps 1-8 for the second cake.

Coffee Simple Syrup

-1 c  strong black coffee

-2 c  white sugar

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the coffee and sugar to a boil, stirring constantly.
2. Continue stirring the mixture for another 5-10 minutes then remove from heat and let it cool. (If you walk away from this, it will try to overflow, and will most likely be successful—mine was.)
3. When it's cool, brush it on to the cake layer.
4. Wait 5 minutes, and brush the cake again.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

-4 (10 oz) bags of dark chocolate chips

-4 c  heavy cream

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the chocolate chips and the cream, and cook over a medium-low heat.
2. Stir constantly. You're waiting until the chocolate is completely melted and incorporated into the cream. Be careful not to cook it too long though— the chocolate will burn and get gritty.
3. When the ganache is done, let it cool. The longer it cools, the thicker it will become.
4. Spread a thick layer on to the cake.

Coffee Buttercream

-8 sticks  unsalted butter

-8 c  confectioner's sugar

-4 tsp  coffee extract

-1 tsp  heavy cream (I usually use milk, but I had some heavy cream left over)

1. Cream the butter and extract until the butter is fluffy and smooth.
2. Whisk in the confectioner's sugar in sections, until all of it is incorporated and the frosting is smooth.
3. Add the heavy cream and mix it in. The whole point of this step is to cool the frosting down and make it a bit stiffer.
4. Put half of the frosting in the refrigerator for the final layer later, and use the half you have out to cover the layer of chocolate you've already put on the cake.

Once that first layer of buttercream is down, you can put the next cake layer down. I usually just flip the whole pan over the layers I've already been working on, then wiggle it a bit until the second cake falls out. (Obviously, I do this really close to the original layers so I don't have chocolate and buttercream flying everywhere.) Then you remove the parchment paper.

Brush the cake down twice more with the coffee syrup, add another thick layer of chocolate ganache, then finish it with a final layer of the buttercream. You can style it however you want. I decided to do a textured top because it was so different than classic opera cakes. I also thought it fit the novel far more than a smooth surface. And you're done. You can either start eating it immediately, or you can take it to a party. This time I chose the latter (it's shocking, I know, especially since I prefer to eat things once they come out of the oven.)

I meant to take a better picture of the cake after it had been cut, but the cake was going fast. The piece above is all that's left.