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Sweet Mondays: Vanilla Cake With A Chocolate Ganache Drip

Monday, April 7, 2014

Vanilla Cake with a Chocolate Ganache Drip | Paper & Party Love

This was the cake for the party that never happened.  It was meant to be for my daughter’s 10th birthday party this past Saturday.  However, on Friday night, she came down with a high fever and we had to cancel the party.  She was really looking forward to it and was so sad that we couldn’t have it. Since I had already made the cake (and cupcakes too), we ended up having a small celebration of our own.  We ate cake (of course) and all ended up sleeping in the living room.  It was meant to be a slumber party, so we dragged some mattresses into the living room and had a family slumber party instead.  My daughter is better now, and no, we didn’t eat all of the cake ourselves.  It’s a big cake! We shared with our neighbors :-). 

Inside of a Vanilla cake with a chocolate ganache drip | Paper & Party Love

This was my first time making a cake like this with the chocolate ganache drip.  I was nervous to try it out and here are some tips that helped me:

  • Make sure the ganache is thick, but not too thick.  If it’s too thick, it won’t run down the sides, and if it’s too thin, it will run down too much.  I watched this video to get a good feel for how thick it should be. 
  • I used a frosting spatula to help the ganache roll over the sides.  It helped to keep the ganache smooth on top while I was trying to push it over the edges.
  • Also, I think it helped that my cake was cold.  I put it in the fridge for about 1 hour before I poured over the ganache. I read that would help the warm ganache “freeze” on the sides. It worked for me!

Cake slice | Paper & Party Love

The cake is a vanilla cake with a white buttercream frosting covered with a chocolate ganache drip. 

Cake recipe: 

Makes enough for all 6 layers of cake.

Ingredients:

Cake
12 eggs
660 grams / 24 oz of self-raising flour
660 grams / 24 oz of sugar
660 grams / 24 oz of butter at room temperature
2 tsp. of vanilla extract
Food coloring of your choice

Buttercream Frosting
2 cups butter at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar

Chocolate Ganache
1 cup cream
9 ounces of chocolate

Cake Instructions:
  1. Preheat your oven to 180 C / 350 F and grease and flour your baking pans. 
  2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes.  
  3. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
  4. Add the vanilla extract.
  5. Pour in the flour a little at a time.  If the mixture is too thick, add milk one teaspoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
  6. At this time, to make the different colored layers, separate the batter evenly into three bowls.
  7. Add the food coloring to the batter to reach your desired color.  I used blue and pink (the colors of the party) and left the other layers a natural color.
  8. Pour the batter into your greased pans. To make the different sizes, I used a 7 inch and a 9 inch baking pan.
  9. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
  10. Cool your cake completely before frosting it.


Frosting:
  1. In an electric mixer, beat the butter until it is creamy.
  2. Slow down your electric mixer and slowly add in the powdered sugar.  
  3. If the mixture seems a bit dry, you can add in small amounts of milk (1 teaspoon at a time) to make it creamier.


Building Your Cake:
  1. Take the larger layers of cake and begin to stack them in the order of your choice.  In between each layer, add frosting. I used three layers.
  2. Add frosting to the top and sides of the cake.  
  3. Crumb coat your cake first, which means put a thinner layer of frosting on the cake and then place it in the freezer or fridge for about 20 minutes. This will help you get a smoother layer of frosting on the outside by “sealing” the crumbs.  
  4. Frost the cake and place it in the fridge again for about 30 minutes while you make the ganache.
  5. Repeat the steps for the smaller cakes.


Chocolate Ganache:
While the cakes are in the fridge, you can make the chocolate ganache.
  1. Chop your chocolate into small pieces and place it in a bowl that can withstand some heat.
  2. Heat the cup of cream on the stove.  Heat it until it just begins to boil.  There will be some foam around the edges when it is ready.
  3. Pour the cream over the chocolate.
  4. Whisk the cream and chocolate together until smooth.
  5. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. It will thicken up a bit while it is cooling off.
  6. Once it is not so warm anymore, pour it over your cold cakes.
  7. Add sprinkles if desired.
  8. Put the cakes in the fridge again for a few minutes to “set” the ganache before serving.

I stacked the cakes after the ganache was set in the fridge.  Once it was ready, I simply stacked the smaller cake on top of the bigger cake.  I believe that you are supposed to use cake dowels and place the smaller level on a piece of cardboard for stability and so that the cake doesn’t collapse.  I did not do this and it is still standing two days later.  If this was for a wedding or a more formal occasion, I probably would have tried to use these items to be sure that the cake wouldn’t topple over or collapse.

I hope you enjoy the cake!

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