Dizzy Dee

Tired of baking traditional chocolate cake?  Here’s a nice challenge.  If you thought Chocolate Ganache cake could only be found at the bakery or coffee shop, think again – you can now bake it in your own kitchen!

Ingredients for cake layers

3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 teaspoon instant-espresso powder
1/2 cup full cream milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups cake flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup softened butter
2 cups sticky brown sugar
4 large eggs

Ingredients for ganache filling & glaze

2 1/2 cups fresh cream
560g good quality bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped, or diced in a food processor)

Method

Cake layers

• Preheat oven to 180°C
• Spray 3 20cm round cake tins with non stick cooking oil spray , and line bottoms with rounds of wax paper. Spray the paper as well, and dust pans with flour, knocking out excess
• Whisk together water, cocoa, and espresso powder until smooth, then whisk in milk and vanilla
• Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt
• Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy, then add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition
• Add flour mixture and cocoa mixture in batches, beginning and ending with flour and mixing at low speed until just combined.
• Divide batter among pans (about 2 1/3 cups per pan), smoothing tops. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes for 7-inch pans or 20 to 25 minutes for 8-inch. Cool in pans on a rack 30 minutes, then invert onto racks, remove paper, and cool completely

Prepare ganache while cakes bake

• Bring cream to a simmer in a 3 – 4 liter  saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk in chocolate until smooth. Transfer ganache to a bowl and chill, covered, stirring occasionally, until thickened but spreadable, about 4 hours. (If ganache becomes too thick, let stand at room temperature until slightly softened.)

Assemble cake

• Arrange 1 layer on a cake stand or plate and spread 2/3 cup ganache evenly over it. Top with another cake layer and 2/3 cup ganache, spreading evenly, then third cake layer. (Chill ganache if necessary to keep at a spreadable consistency.) Chill cake until ganache filling is firm, about 1 hour. Keep remaining ganache at a spreadable consistency, chilling when necessary.
• Spread a thin layer of ganache over top and sides of cake to seal in crumbs, then chill 30 minutes. Spread remaining ganache evenly over top and sides of cake

Interesting fact:  The word “Ganache” (pronouced  ɡəˈnɑːʃ/) is the French word for “jowl” originally from Italian ganascia (“jaw”).  Definition of “jowl”:  The flesh under the lower jaw, especially when plump or flaccid.  Used in the sense of chocolate cake Ganache refers to the meaning “cushion”–as the cream seems to “cushion” both the flavor and texture of chocolate.

Tags: Bake, Cake, chocolate-ganache-cake, Food, Recipe

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 at 7:41 pm and is filed under Bake, Chocolate, Food, Recipe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.