My Mom's Chocolate Ganache Cake

I made this for my son's birthday in May.  I've been wanting to make it for a long time and finally had the opportunity.  It wasn't hard to make; you just need to plan ahead for the cake and then two chocolate ganache mixtures to cool enough.  Make this the day before you need it.  Because of lockdown, I didn't want to go to the store, so I just made do with what I had on hand- semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet baking chocolate.  It turned out great! I'm not sure I'd bother with the baking chocolate next time.  I did need to use my kitchen scale to measure out the ounces, though. 

Chocolate Ganache Cake
from my Mom and TOH

Cake:
3/4 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup sour cream
2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
4 (1 oz.) squares semi-sweet chocolate (OR 4 oz. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:
8 (1 oz.) squares semi-sweet chocolate (OR 8 oz. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1/4 cup butter, cubed
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease two 8-inch of 9-inch round cake pans.  Add a circle of waxed paper in the bottom of each pan, grease the paper, and then coat the inside of the pans with flour.  (Trace the bottom of pan on waxed paper and cut out, to get a matched circle to the pan.) 

2.  In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla; beat for 2 minutes.  Combine buttermilk and sour cream in a small bowl or liquid measuring cup.  In another bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture, beating after each addition.  Do not overmix.

3.  Pour into the prepared cake pans.  Bake for 15-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  (My oven bakes super hot, so I always check early, hence the 15 minutes.  Yours might take longer.)  After removing from oven, cool for 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. 

4.  In a heavy saucepan, melt chocolate with cream over low heat.  Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla.  Transfer to a small mixing bowl; chill until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.  Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Chill until mixture achieves spreading consistency.  (After chilling, I chose to beat the mixture in my stand mixture so it was light and fluffy- I loved it this way.)

5.  For glaze, in a heavy saucepan, melt chocolate and butter.  Gradually add cream; heat until just warmed.  Chill until slightly thickened. 

6.  Place one cake layer on a serving plate; spread with filling.  Top with remaining cake layer.  Slowly pour glaze over top of cake.  (I refrigerated the glaze until I could spread it like a frosting, but you can also pour it over so it drips down. You can also beat it in a stand mixture to thicken if you want.)  Refrigerate until serving. 

 **This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **