Opera....we are all preoccupied with making this cake. The pastry chefs are over emphasizing its importance, probably because 3 intermmediate students failed to advance to the superior level because of the results of their opera cakes in the final. So, this is my first opera cake. We spend (or are supposed to spend) weekends and evenings practicing wriiting in chocolate. I like this "O" but I think I need to do something bigger and dramatic with the "r" or the "a." It's easy to forget the accent aigu on the "e." This cake is three layers (embibed jaconde) with ganache filling on one and coffee buttercream between the other layers. Of course, we can't use mixers or leavening (other than meringue), so, yes, it is a bit of a challenge. One makes a huge sheet of cake, cuts it into three, make the fillings, imbibe, fill, imbibe, fill, frost, glaze in choco, and then write on the top. Actually, it's fun (if only we had more than 2 hours to do it in).