Happy Ground Hog Day

It's Ground Hog Day so I made some cakes for the kids at the community center.

                                   

 This recipe makes a rich decadent chocolate cake.  Start by melting 2 sticks of butter, 1 cup of water, 1/3 cup of dutch cocoa and 1 tsp. of salt.  Remove from the heat and set it aside.

 Mix 2 cups of flour with 1-3/4 cup of sugar and 1-1/2 tsp of baking soda.  Add the butter mixture and mix well.  Add 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract.

 Pour the batter into a prepared bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.  Test it with a toothpick.

 Look at the difference in these cakes.  I rarely use Pam for anything anymore but since I hadn't made a bundt cake in a long time, I was worried about it sticking so I sprayed it with Pam and sprinkled it with flour.  I was not happy at all with the finished cake.  It's just a coating of flour but it really is unattractive.  So, for the other two cakes, I brushed the pan with butter and then coated it with flour and look at the difference.  No more Pam for me, ever.

 While the cakes cooled, I made the ganache.  This is a good chocolate you can get at Trader Joe's.

 Break it up into small pieces.  You need 4 ounces for 1 cake.

 Pour 1/2 cup of heavy cream into a pan, add 1-1/2 tablespoons of sugar.  Heat until the sugar melts.

 Stir in 1-1/2 tablespoons of corn syrup and the chocolate and stir until blended and you have a nice shiny ganache.  Frost the cake.

 Since I wanted these to look like dirt, I ground some thin mint cookies in my food processor and then sprinkled the finished cakes with them.

Hi Phil!  Looks a bit like Whack a Mole, doesn't it?