HOW TO COVER A CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Hi my lovelies if you’re like me and you’re not really a big fan of buttercream frosting or maybe you already just want to try something new chocolate ganache is a great way to decorate your cakes it’s not that difficult but there definitely are some tips you’re going to want to learn that will make your life a lot easier so let me show you how to do it

RECIPE:

8oz. milk chocolate (or any desired chocolate)
1/2 cup heavy cream

Yields:

1 5″ Drip Cake (there are 2, 5″ inch cakes, cut in 4 pieces, to make one 5″ drip cake)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat heavy cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat, until it reaches a heavy simmer.
Place the chocolate in a bowl, and place the simmer cream over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute, before taking a spatula and mixing everything together. Mix until the chocolate is completely smooth. If there are still lumps, add the chocolate mixture to the microwave for 30 seconds and then give it another mix. Continue in 30-second intervals (to not overheat your chocolate) until the chocolate is completely smooth and there are no lumps.
Let the chocolate sit at room temperature for at least 4 hours, or in the refrigerator for at least two. You want the chocolate to be thick enough that when you take a scoop of the chocolate with your rubber spatula, it will fall off in one large clump or even be thick enough that it doesn’t come off your spatula.

NOTE:

Do not let your cream come to a boil. Make sure to keep an eye on it. It will not take long for the cream to heat to your desired temperature.

CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE:

3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. oil
2 Tbsp. softened butter
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup coffee, warm or cool (not hot)
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup AP Flour, sifted

Yields:

One drip cake which is 2, 5″ cakes cut into 4 layers
Double recipe if you want to do 2 Drip cakes (or a larger cake) as shown in the video

NOTE:

If you want a denser cake instead of a moister cake, substitute the baking soda for baking powder.

SIMPLE SYRUP:

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

Heat sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat.
Once the sugar has completely dissolved, take the saucepan off of the heat.
Pour the simple syrup into a heat-safe dish, and let cool before placing it on your cake layers.

Preheat your oven to 350F.
To your mixer attached with the whisk attachment, whisk your butter, oil, and sugar together on medium speed. Then add in the vanilla extract, and egg and beat for another 15 seconds.
Next add in the baking soda, cocoa powder, salt, and cooled coffee, and beat until well combined.
Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically, to make sure all of the ingredients are well combined.
Then add in your flour in 2 stages with the buttermilk in between. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, all the way to the bottom, and give everything another mix.
Then butter 2, 5″ cake pans, and place a layer of parchment paper at the bottom of your pans. Bake for about 40 minutes.

NOTE:

You will need longer if you are doing a larger cake.

Once the cakes have finished baking, and are completely cooled. Take them out of the pans, and place them in plastic wrap and freeze overnight, or for at least 4 hours. This will help lock in the flavor and make them easy to cut.
Once they have frozen overnight, cut off the bulge at the top of the cake, so you have a level cake. Then with a cake leveling tool or toothpick trick (see the video,) cut your cakes in half, so you should end up with 4 equal-sized pieces of cake.
Place a 5″ cake board onto a moving, decorating cake stand. Then take a little bit of the chocolate ganache and place it onto the cake board (I forgot this step in my video. Oops!) Then place what was a bottom piece of one of the cakes, as the bottom of the cake (Bottom face down). Then brush some simple syrup onto the cake, add a layer of peanut butter cream cheese frosting, and repeat the steps until the last layer of cake. For the last layer of cake, again, use the other bottom part of the cake, but this time place the bottom side face up so that you get perfect edges on the cake. Brush a layer of simple syrup on the top layer of cake.
Then place a thick layer of ganache onto the top of the cake and using an offset spatula, push the chocolate all the way to the edges and smooth it out.
Follow the rest of the video instructions (description is too long). Make sure to refrigerate your cake once the ganache is finished, to let the cake set completely.