a delicious white cake with chocolate ganache

It has been quite a while since I posted a recipe here. Maintaining 3 blogs and the occasional post on a 4th one can be quite a challenge and my work load just did not help. I carried on cooking but physically only managed to post on the Portuguese version of Trembom. I do have to say that it is wonderful to be back here. Hopefully this time I will have no more interruptions – not very long ones any way.

To celebrate my return I have decided to share a cake that I baked for a lovely friend, Deb. She is now married to my very good friend Rob, whom I have worked with for a good few years now. She is as wonderful as he is. What a lovely couple. I couldn’t go to Deb’s surprise birthday party so when I was invited to have dinner with them I decided that the occasion asked for a lovely cake. I did try loads of different recipes – all equally nice. Some I had already baked before, others I wanted to have a go at. I am not the most decisive person. Up to the last minute I am thinking about another ‘possibility’. When I go out for a meal for instance, I keep changing my mind about my choice until the minute the waiter takes my order. Often it ends up being none of the ones I had already talked about.

So keeping up with tradition, on the very last minute I decided that the cake that I was going to bake was going to be a white cake. Even though I did know that Deb really likes chocolate I decided to go for a white cake with chocolate ganache as filling and icing. It would be not as sickening as a whole chocolate cake with chocolate trimmings as well.

The idea for the cake came from the blog Technicolor Kitchen. Patricia, who owns the blog, got the original recipe from Baking Sheet. See the original recipe here. As Patricia rightly said the cake is absolutely delicious. It is quite firm but also wonderfully light – no egg yolks, only egg whites. Plus it smells absolutely divine. The almond and vanilla essence combined transport you to a wonderful place – it tickles all your senses in my opinion. For the ganache I got a recipe from Pierre Herme ‘Chocolate Desserts’. It is great because it is not too sweet but it is chocolaty enough for the chocoholics to enjoy. If you wish a copy of the recipe just let me know and I will mail it to you.

I did still want to decorate the cake and I went for chocolate fingers, fencing it off, and chocolate flakes on top. I do have to say that I was quite proud of my achievement. I am not the most gifted person when it comes to cake decoration but perhaps there is hope for me.