Chocolate Ganache Cake

It's cake time again!!! This cake is perfect for all the people in your life who LOVE super sweet treats!  If you're looking for something over-the-top with a high sweet intensity you have come to the right place!  Although the outside of my cake may not have looked as pristine as I would have liked it to; I assure you, it was delicious!

Cake Ingredients:
3 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
3 eggs
2 2/3 cup flour
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup of milk
1 1/2 cup of water
1 1/8 cup cocoa powder

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Oil and flour 3 10 inch round cake pans (or line them with parchment paper) and set aside.
2. With an electric mixer combine brown sugar and oil.  Turn the mixer onto a low speed and gradually add the eggs.  Let the mixture continue to beat while you mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.  Set the flour mixture aside.
3. Place cocoa powder into another separate bowl.  Bring the 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil.  Once water is boiling, pour the water over the cocoa powder and whisk together until smooth.
4. To the oil and egg mixture, mix in the flour mixture as well as the milk and vanilla; alternating the milk with the flour mixture.  Once all of the flour mixture, the milk, and the vanilla is added; Set the mixer to low and slowly pour in the cocoa and water combination.
5. Pour the finished batter into the three pans evenly.  Make sure that you have coated the pans with enough flour or parchment paper so they do not stick when trying to remove the cakes after baking.
6. Place the cake batter filled pans into the oven and bake for about 28 to 35 minutes; or until toothpick comes out clean.
7.  Take cakes out of the oven and allow to cool for about ten to fifteen minutes before trying to remove from the pan.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients: 
3 cups of confectioner's sugar
1 cup butter (softened)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract
1 to 2 tablespoon heavy whipping cream

1. Blend together sugar and butter.
2. Add the vanilla, butter extract, and whipping cream.
3. Taste test to make sure the flavor has an equal amount of sugar to butter.  The original recipe that I used did not call for butter extract; but I noticed that a lot of the buttercream frosting recipes tend to have too strong of a sugar flavor, so I tweaked it a little... Ha. Of course.  It all depends on how you want your frosting to taste.

Ganache Glaze

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup of semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream

1. In a bowl combine the chocolate chips and light corn syrup.
2. Bring heavy cream to a boil.  Once boiling, pour over top of the chocolate chips and corn syrup.  Stir until chips are melted and the mixture is smooth.


Assembly:

The assembly of the cake is pretty simple.  Simply layer the cakes with frosting in between each layer.  Cake 1, frosting, cake 2, frosting, cake 3, frosting.  Once the three cakes are stacked on top of each other; frost the entire cake with the buttercream frosting.  Place in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to chill.  Once chilled, bring the cake back out and pour the Ganache glaze over the top.  Allow to run down the sides and either spread over the entire cake, or simply allow to run over the sides. Let sit about 10 minutes to allow the Ganache get a bit cooled down and settled.  Cut, serve and enjoy!

                      

I did make two mistakes when I made this cake that I realize were pretty dumb! Haha... First off, I did not allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting them (I was in a bit of a hurry); Cakes take patience; I'm just a fast mover!
Secondly, I did not allow the Ganache to cool down a bit before I poured it over the cake; which caused the frosting to melt a bit; ending with the cake looking sloppy.

Although the cake does not look the best or the most beautiful; it tasted great!  As I mentioned before, it was very sweet!  A little goes a long way!  Next time I make the cake I may try just 1 layer instead of 2; to make the recipe and cook time a little more quick.  I will also frost it better with the buttercream and then just allow the Ganache to run over the cake instead of trying to spread it out.  This cake does take some time to make; and patience is a virtue that I obviously need to work  on when it comes to baking!
Good luck!