Monday, November 3, 2008

Chocolate cake, ganache, and marshmallow

chocolate marshmallow cakeThis almost worked.

I found the marshmallow frosting and ganache* recipes here.

My version? It wasn't pretty but it tasted good. That's pretty much how most of what I make comes out. Tasty, not pretty. Just eat it! :)

My mistake(s) this time was making the frosting too soon and then (gasp!) refrigerating it. Let that be a lesson to all...do not refrigerate homemade marshmallow frosting until you've already frosted your cake! Silly me.

That said... this was still really good.

I used a boxed cake mix...hey, I considered trying one from scratch but I thought I was being adventurous enough trying the homemade frosting. I've made the confectioners sugar (with and without cream cheese) kind, but never a "cook on the stove" kind. Someday I'm going to brave a butter cream attempt (maybe this one). Not this day though.

I sliced the cake carefully (by hand, no dental floss* trick, though I considered it) into 4 layers. Used this* ganache recipe (fabulous!) on each layer, and the marshmallow frosting on top.

The result? Well, as I said, it's not pretty but it sure was good. The ganache keeps the cake moist and the marshmallow frosting is light (even my soupy version, it thickened up after re-refrigeration) and not too sweet and really brought out the chocolate flavor in the (yep, boxed) chocolate cake. Yummy!

A little picture story... click the images to see the larger versions:
two 9x9 chocolate cakes coolingThis WAS perfect. Light fluffy, just perfect. Then I did this. Do NOT refrigerate your marshmallow frosting until you've frosted your cake with it.

Mmmm...ganacheReady to frost

Recovered enough to frost, required additional beating. But it got oozyThen it got reallllly oozy!

I'd make this again. It was a big hit. I just won't refrigerate the frosting until it's on the cake!
(so it won't get oozy next time)It could've been prettier but that's ok, we liked it