I’m not really a great baker.  I’m working at getting better and at figuring things out along the way, but I’m certainly not accomplished.  For her birthday, my friend Kristen requested a chocolate cake.  It sounded easy enough, so I thought I’d jazz it up a bit by making the icing in between the layers out of ganache and then covering the whole thing in a dark chocolate ganache.  Yum!!  Death by vegan chocolate cake.

The cake part was so easy. The Joy of Vegan Baking’s chocolate cake recipe.  I doubled it and baked it in two 6-inch cake pans.  This made 4 cakes, but I only ended up using 3.  Done.  I made these a week ahead and froze them.  Cake actually freezes very well.  In fact, I think it makes the cake better if you make it ahead and freeze it.  It certainly breaks a big project up into more manageable time segments.

Now for the ganache.  A ganache is typically made by melting chocolate with cream.  To veganize it, I thought I’d use soy creamer (big mistake– we’ll get to that in a second).  So I took a big chunk (1 pound) of vegan dark chocolate (72%) and chopped it up fine.  I then brought 1 cup of soy creamer to a bubble and poured it over.  Allow to sit for one minute, then stir.  Normally, the combo of 1 pound of chocolate and 1 cup of milk should make the perfect ganache.  When I stirred it, it was really thick, so I kept adding in more creamer until it was nice and melted and ran smooth.  This should have been red flag #1, but I didn’t catch it.  I also added in a liquid sweetener– started with maple syrup, then moved on to agave since agave is much, much cheaper than maple syrup– until it was sweet, but still a rich dark chocolate.  Since I wasn’t using it right away, I stuck it in the fridge in an airtight container.

Then, I made another batch of ganance– a softer ganache this time– to act as the icing in between the layers of cake.  I made it exactly the same way as above and then I whipped in 2 boxes of sifted powdered sugar.  Yep, it made a lot!  I could have used just 1 one-pound bar and it would have been sufficient for both parts.  Anyway, it came out the perfect consistency and, since I wasn’t using it that day, I stuck it in the fridge just like before.  Ganache, like frosting, can be made way ahead of time and kept in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.  Ganache can also be frozen for months.

For the decoration, I wanted to keep it simple and decided to go with some edible flowers on the top.  I found some pretty purple ones– I think they’re some sort of orchid– and went with those.  I bought those 2 days in advance and kept them in my fridge on a damp paper towel.  When the paper towel dried out, I spritzed it with some more water.  They held up great.

The assembly:

Twist some floral wire around the stems of the flowers so that you can poke them into the top of the cake.  I did this the day before, just to make things easy for me on the day of.

Next, cut a cake board to the exact circumference of your cake.  Assemble by placing one cake (bottom side down) on top of the cake board, spread with some icing, then place another cake on top.  Continue until you reach your desired height.  I only used 3 layers of cake since it would have been too tall and weird looking had I used all 4.

When you’re done layering the cake and frosting, set yourself up with a contraption like this one in the picture above.  A baking sheet goes on the bottom.  Put a wire rack on top of that.  Then place an object underneath your cake that is smaller in circumference than the cake itself.  This way, your ganache goes all over the cake and collects in the baking sheet.  Whatever ends up in the baking sheet can be reclaimed and used again.

Cover the entire cake with the ganache (not the one used for the icing– the other, liquid one).  Use a spatula to spread it all around the sides.  Refrigerate the cake for 15 minutes after the cake has been coated in the ganache and repeat the process until you are satisfied with the thickness of the outer chocolate coating.  I would say 2 coats should do you, but it’s all up to you.

The assembled and decorated cake.

The thing that I was unhappy about was the consistency of both of my ganaches.  When they were warmed up, they were the perfect consistency, but as soon as they cooled they were very, very thick.  I theory, everything should have come together perfectly.  As I was driving home after the festivities and was troubleshooting in my head what could have gone wrong, I concluded that the soy creamer was what did it.  Unlike cream from cow’s, soy creamer is made with thickening agents to give it that creamy consistency.  Heating it up and cooling it back down must have thickened my gananches in a way that I didn’t want them thickened.  Had I used regular soy milk, or any other kind of non-dairy milk for that matter, things probably would have gone off without a hitch.

A slice

Now, the cake was still good.  Everyone enjoyed it.  I’m just picking things apart because I’m a perfectionist and thought I could have done better if I would have troubleshooted the problem beforehand.  I will learn from my mistakes and make a perfect chocolate truffle cake next time.  I promise.