Chocolate Ganache Chocolate Cake

Have you noticed all my recent post have been desserts or something sweet? Don't worry I do have some others too but for today as promised here I am again sharing with you another chocolate dessert.

This is my husband's favorite; three layers of Chocolate cake - layered with two layers of Chocolate Ganache. Then Coated with Chocolate Ganache as well as Chocolate Glaze for that smooth finish.

It does sounds complicated but it's not. Now as always I won't lie to you, this is not a difficult cake to make but it is time consuming so if you are looking for a quick fix dessert, this is not it.

However, should you decide to attempt this cake - you will definitely wow your guest as you will take them to chocolate haven.

 You can do all the steps I did with this cake or skips some; such as
Make the cake, layer and decorate with Ganache, and skip the chocolate glaze.
OR
make the cake, skip the Ganache and just pour the Chocolate Glaze. 
Both will work just as well.

So let's get started. 

First we need to make the cake. Here are some cakes you can make depending on your time and expertise.
Easy - Simple yet moist chocolate cake much lighter as it's made with coco powder
Easy - Chocolate Cake - Delicious on it's own - more rich and heavy made with melted chocolate - A chocoholics choice.
Medium - Devil's food Chocolate cake - again lighter as it's made with coco powder
Medium - Here I made my husbands favorite Flour less chocolate cake made with ground pecans and melted chocolate so more rich and heavy. Great for chocoholics.

Next prepare your Ganache - (enough for a 7" & 8" cake)

250 ml whipping cream
250 grams Dark Chocolate ( I use 80%)
2 tbsp Butter

Place the cream, pieces of chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl.
Melt in the microwave at 50% power for 1 minutes, stir then another 30 secs or until the chocolate is all melted and smooth. Cool and chill in the fridge for at least two hours.
You can do this as soon as you prepare your cake. so the cake and Ganache will both cool in the fridge at the same time.
You can find more details on the Chocolate Ganache in this post.

Next layer the cake and the Chocolate Ganache. - I did not take progress pictures here. Ganache is quite messy and I didn't have a spare hand.
This is not the cake - but this is what you would do..Place the cake on a board or plate, level it and spread Ganache between the layers.

If you divide your cake batter into  two layers this is how your cake will look.
This is two layers 8" round cake layered with Ganache in the middle and the balance is spread all around the cake.
Note: The height and width of your cake will of course depend on the recipe you choose above.

I made three layers 7" round cake, because I wanted the cake to be tall instead of wide.

This is good enough too!
Most often this is all you need to do - this is ready to be decorated with some border and simple piped design and the cake would be complete.
But I decided to take it to the next step. 

Make the Chocolate Glaze
You want to make sure you chill the cake in the fridge well before this step.

200 ml whipping cream
100 ml light corn syrup
100 grams butter
200 grams chocolate ( I use 80%)

Melt the cream, light corn syrup and chocolate in the microwave or double boiler just the same way you did for the Ganache.
One the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth, start adding the butter into small pieces making sure it is melted completely. This also helps in bringing the temperature of the chocolate down so it won't be too hot on the Ganache.
The butter and Corn syrup contribute to the beautiful shine.

Place your cake on a wire rack with a large plate or clean baking tray to collect the drippings. 

Pour the glaze on the cake slowly starting in the middle and then to the sides, making sure you pour slowly attempting to cover the whole cake.
If you have any blind spot use a spatula to help smooth the sides.
Do not use the spatula too much as you will leave marks on the cake.
The less you work on this at this stage, the better the result.

Here you can see the top edges are not that smooth but eventually they will smooth out.. Using a spatula at this time will leave marks.
Place the cake on the fridge and let cool. completely.

Gather the chocolate drippings and let cool in the fridge. 
When the cake is cooled, palce the balance chocolate glaze in a piping bag and pipe any decorations you want..

Since my cake is a Flour less Chocolate Cake made with Pecan meal I used Pecan to decorate the cake.
Decorating Options:
You could
Use any ready made chocolate decorations, such as chocolate curls, swirls, beads, Coco beans. 
Dust the cake sides with Coco Powder.
Add Chocolate dipped fruits.
Melt some white chocolate and sprinkle it in a decorative fashion or just grate some white chocolate.
Or make the chocolate decorations I shared with you in the previous post  - Chocolate cake with whipped cream

 Well, as I said above, it's not difficult but it does have a few step that might discourage you. But if you do attempt it.. you will not only wow your guest but wow yourself.

Here's the inside of the cut cake.

 I do hope you still attempt it. If you do let me know how it went. 

Thanks for stopping by.