"Perfectly" Chocolate Bundt Cake With Chocolate Ganache

I know Easter is done but this post is long overdue. The photo shoot took place a few days before Easter and I took advantage of my mom's beautiful place settings and arrangements. Besides, bunnies and bird eggs are still relevant. It's spring after all!

 
I made a chocolate bundt cake using my new favorite go-to chocolate cake recipe, Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake. The end result is such an amazingly flavorful cake. To make it even more delectable, I topped it off with a layer of chocolate ganache. This cake is so rich and fantastic. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and your head will be swimming.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa (I use Hershey's Special Dark)*
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp baking powder   
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
I cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup strong hot coffee*

Directions 

• Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 12 cup bundt pan
•  Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in hot coffee. (Batter will be thin). 
•  Pour batter into pan and bake 50-55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in pan then turn out onto a wire rack to cool thoroughly.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

9 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped (can use chocolate chips)
1 cup heavy cream

Directions 
  

• Place chocolate in a heat proof bowl.
• In a small saucepan, heat cream over low-medium heat until bubble start to form around the edges.
• Pour hot cream over chocolate and stir utnil the chocolate is fully melted.
• Pour ganache over cake slowly making sure to evenly coat.*
• Allow ganache to set up, about two hours. 

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*A few things....

  
~Hershey's recipe calls for 3/4 cup cocoa. I think a cup does the cake even more justice.

~Their recipe also calls for 1 cup of boiling water but I opted to use coffee. Coffee is such a compliment to chocolate. It really amps up the flavor so why not use it?

~PLEASE, make sure the ganache is not thin. I made the mistake of turning my mom's kitchen into a massacre-like scene during my second attempt making ganache. I used milk chocolate instead of bittersweet and it did not set up near as quick. I made the mistake of thinking once it hit the cake some sort of magic would happen and it would thicken. Uh, no. It ran off the cake platter and anywhere it could travel. And let me tell ya, it traveled FAST. (Did you know that chocolate syrup was used for blood in black and white  movies? I TOTALLY see why now.) Let the ganahce set up until it is thick, about at a batter consistency. Pour on just a bit to see how it goes and if it is too thin, pop it in the fridge and stir it every 5 minutes until it thickens a bit. If you have to spread it around the cake with a spatula, that is better than having to chase it down counter tops and drip it ALL OVER a freshly mopped floor. I cussed so much that day.   

Not to Bake

Move along, folks. No baking to see here.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Want to hear something funny? Not really "ha ha" funny, but more "you're really weird" funny.

I am not much on cupcakes.

There. I said it. Feels good to be out of that closet.

I will take a small test bite or two, but cupcakes and I don't have the dysfunctional relationship that Oreos and I have. My husband feels the same. Needless to say, the majority of the cupcakes I make are given away. But only after my daughter has had a few. Ever since her first birthday, when she sees a cupcake she squeals like Elmo himself is standing in front of her.

The other day while I was frosting my practice batch, she was intently watching me. Out of nowhere, she excitedly picked up her play cell phone and "called" someone. The only words I understood were "mama," "cupcakes" and "okay, bye!" This must have been breaking news on the toddler circuit.

After all the recent cupcake making, I needed a salty/sweet snack. For me, salty/sweet snacks are in the same realm as Oreos. Only slightly more dangerous.

Lately, I have been seeing lots of variations of chocolate covered popcorn on the internet and I had to give it a try. Here is where the "Not to Bake" part of this blog comes into play. (I will have more of these posts in the future.) This recipe involves no baking. It is so incredibly easy and the results are super fantastic. 

Chocolate Covered Popcorn

1 bag white chocolate chips

1 bag microwave popcorn (preferably natural flavor with no butter)

Pop the corn as directed. 

Pour chips into a microwave safe bowl and cook 1 minute on high. Stir. Repeat at 30 second increments stirring in between until chips are almost melted. Once the majority of the chocolate is melted and there are just a few chips left, keep stirring them into the warm chocolate and they will melt on their own. This keeps you from having to microwave the chocolate further and avoids the risk of scorching. 

Pour the chocolate over the popcorn and toss to coat. It's easiest to use your hands here. Yes, it is messy, but I found a spoon or spatula doesn't work as well and tends to just crush the popcorn.

Once the popcorn is coated, pour onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and allow the chocolate to set up. (This is where I tossed on some of that purple sugar.) Break into pieces and place in an airtight container.

There are so many ways you can go with this recipe. Of course you could use milk chocolate instead of white. You could toss in nuts, pretzels, colored sprinkles or M&M's. You could even accent  the white chocolate popcorn with a drizzle of  milk chocolate, and vice versa. 

Have a great Mardi Gras!