Peppermint Ganache Cake & Last Day for Shabby Apple!

Peppermint Ganache Cake & Last Day for Shabby Apple!

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Christmas, party, recipes

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Today is the last day to enter my Shabby Apple giveaway! Go enter. I'll wait.

"Let them eat cake!" is what I always say! I also say things like "chork pops" instead of "pork chops" because that's what my goofball mom always said. But back to the point of cake...the best 4 letter word ever. I adore cake (as evidenced by my not-losing-baby-weight statement from my earlier post). So when we decided to host Jim's family here I knew I wanted to make a festive cake that didn't include things like fruit bits from a plastic container in the baking aisle or any dessert made with vegetables (Pipe down, Pumpkin. You had your time.)

So I served a Peppermint Ganache Cake and it was delish!  Here's how I did it:

Peppermint Ganache Cake (real directions are in bold for those who want to bypass the snarky fluff)

1 box of vanilla cake mix (or make your own and I bet you make your own mayonnaise too, don't you!)  and the ingredients for that particular mix

1 bag of high quality chocolate chips or the equivalent to 2 cups of the finest semi-sweet chocolate you are willing not to eat in it's natural state (really ganachers will shrink back in horror at the mention of using chips but I had good results so that's up to you. Don't hate the playa, hate the game)

2 cups of heavy whipping cream

1/2-1 tsp of peppermint extract depending on how minty you'd like your ganache

Enough vanilla butter cream to frost your cake.

Bake cakes according to directions on your mix. I chose to bake mine in 3 pans instead of two so I'd have more ganache in it. To do this I just used a measuring cup to ensure each pan had the same amount.  Real bakers will tell you to do this on a scale by weight but frankly cake and weigh are two words I try not to put together.   Pie and Pilates are two others. Moving on....

So when they cakes have cooled, use a serrated knife to slice the little dome off the tops if you'd like to eat cake scraps have perfectly flat cakes.

Make the ganache:

Put chocolate in a big bowl and heat 2 cups of cream in a sauce pan until it's super hot but not boiling.  Pour the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for a minute to let the chocolate melt. Then you can gently encourage the melting by stirring with a rubber spatula. Once it's mostly worked together and it is glossy, dark brown, and you are itching to pour it in a glass and drink it, you can add the peppermint extract. Reserve about 1 cup  and let the remaining ganache get to room temp. Whip it until it is spreading consistency and frost the layers of your cake. I piped a small ring of butter cream around the cake edge and then filled it in with the whipped ganache icing so that it wouldn't bleed out and make my icing on the sides streaky.  You will have tons of ganache left over  so you can really frost anything with it.

Stack and then frost your entire cake with the vanilla butter cream. To get a really smooth finish, dip an offset spatula into super hot water and then wipe on a towel. The hot metal will melt the butter ever so slightly and you'll get a super smooth finish.

Nuke the remaining ganache (the unwhipped cup) until it is warm enough to pour. Pour the entire cup over the top in the middle and then gently push the ganache out with a knife to let it drip down the sides.

It was da' bomb and da' bumdiggity.

Here is my butter cream recipe:
2 sticks softened butter
2 cups powdered sugar (more or less depending on the consistency you want and how sweet you want it)
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 tbs heavy cream

Whip to spreading consistency, adding sugar and cream to achieve the feel you want.

Bad blogger that I am, I forgot to take a picture of that first beautiful slice and remembered after we'd attacked it. But you get the idea on the inside of it:

 

What holiday goodies are you making??  Share some yummy recipes!

Cheers!
Jenny

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