Many of the cakes I make are either ordered by, or ordered for, someone who happens to love chocolate. One of my favorite ways to incorporate chocolate into a cake is to glaze a cake with ganache. Ganache is many things…at a warm temperature, it’s both a glaze for cakes and a perfect topping for those of us who love our ice cream. At room temperature, it’s a thick, fudge-like frosting that can be applied to a cake with a spatula. Cold? Truffles. While there are many recipes out there for ganache, I like to make the most simple version which includes two ingredients: semi-sweet chocolate & heavy cream.

I have exceeded my expectations with this cake, because I did it one-handed while taking pix with my other hand. This skill will most definitely be added to my resume.

Here’s a cake that’s been trimmed, leveled, cut into four layers, filled with mousse and frosted with buttercream. In other words, just the beginning.

Enter stage left…a bowl of warm ganache.

I affectionately call this ‘cake meets ganache’.

Keep pouring.

So close to the end…drip dry, check. Transition to cake board, check. Chocolate vermicelli around base, check.

Finally, decorations in buttercream.

mmmmmmmmm.