I recently realized that I never posted the recipe for Zinni's birthday cake. I made this cake before this blog existed, so please excuse the not so great photo! My inspiration for this cake was one of Giada's cupcake recipes on Food Networks's website. I made those cupcakes for my friend Hockema's birthday which is just a couple of weeks before Zinni's. I thought I would use the same basic recipe, but mix things up a bit by adding Bailey's frosting. This cake was a huge hit. It was also just HUGE. It was really heavy - I made Charles carry it. It fed a small army of people at the birthday party, and then we at the rest of it at Sunday Night Dinner the next night. I served this cake with vanilla ice cream because it was so chocolately and rich.
I feel like I write about my friend Zinni often, and that is because he loves chocolate! I love chocolate, but my husband doesn't have much of a sweet tooth at all. I only bake sweet things when I know that I will have someone to share them with, because I am not going to sit at home and eat a whole cake by myself. Usually my friends get to eat the cupcakes, cakes, pies, and cookies that I post on this blog. I always know that Zinni will be good for at least a few cupcakes or pieces of pie - and then he will take the leftovers home and eat them for breakfast. I want to cook sweets - but I only want to eat one serving and my friends help me out with that.
Step 1:
Use this recipe from Food Network for the cake and the chocolate ganache. I made a double batch of the cake, and then I filled the cake pans about ½ way to make a 4 layer cake.
Step 2:
While the cake is baking, make the Bailey's Frosting by combining the following ingredients with in a mixer: 1 ½ sticks of softened butter, 3 teaspoons vanilla, 5 cups powered sugar. Then I just added Bailey's (about ½ cup). If you add too much Bailey's the frosting will be runny, so add it a little bit at a time.
Step 3:
Make the ganache (also Giada's recipe) and let it cool for at least half an hour. This is really important because ganache goes over the top of the cake and over the Bailey's Frosting. The Bailey's Frosting has butter in it, and it will melt if the ganache is too hot.
Step 4:
While the ganache is cooling, use the Bailey's Frosting to frost the cake.
Step 5:
Pour the ganache over the top of the cake.
