Leftover Fun

I am never one to waste food. I always freeze the extra egg whites; I never throw away any sablee or puff pastry dough scraps; I even save the pineapple cores and coriander roots to flavor soups. If it’s edible, I’ll find a way to use it, some way, anyway.

When I made the Opéra the other day, I miscalculated how much coffee butter cream I needed and ended up with lots of leftover. Even though I’m not a fan of butter cream in large quantities (I only tolerate it in Opera because it’s such a thin layer) it still seems like a crime to throw it away. Plus, it’s coffee flavored!

I happened to have some cupcakes leftover from the preparation for a Food & Travel magazine photo shoot sitting in the fridge so I decided to put the butter cream on the cupcakes. This is the result and the Opéra from which it had spawn.



Then it hit me that if you fill it with some chocolate ganache, soak with some coffee syrup, and top with coffee cream. You’ll have all the flavors of an Opéra without the labor-intensive process. Now won't that be nice?