Recipe Tip: Chocolate Ganache

If you’re throwing a party and want to spruce up your fruit tray by adding some homemade chocolate ganache to dip your fruit into, or to cover and/or top cakes and cupcakes, this is your recipe!

*Basic Chocolate Ganache:

1/3 Cup Heavy Cream
1/3-1/2 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

On the stove top, pour the heavy cream into a saucepan over Medium heat. Allow the heavy cream to heat up from anywhere from 2-4 minutes, or until you see steam start to rise from the cream. Do NOT let it come to a boil! Once the cream is warm, turn off the heat and remove the heavy cream from the stove. Pour in your chocolate chips and mix with a wooden spoon. The heat from the heavy cream will melt the chocolate. If the ganache looks too soupy, add more chocolate chips until you reach the desired consistency. If it looks too thick, add a bit of heavy cream at a time until your desired consistency is reached. Once the chocolate has melted, add in the Tsp. of Vanilla and stir. (I highly recommend using Pure Vanilla Extract and not imitation). Allow the ganache to cool and enjoy!

You can substitute any kind of chocolate for the ganache.

*The measurements may or may not be exact.

Pink Giraffe 1st Birthday Cake

Pink Giraffe Cake

This cake was a blast to make! I loved being able to get creative and make a cute ‘lil cake for my friend’s baby’s 1st Birthday that was age appropriate and a bit unconventional…however, in today’s day and age, cake is anything but conventional any more…

This cake featured a Vanilla Cake Batter with Vanilla Buttercream and was finished with fondant detail. (I highly recommend Satin Ice (it can be ordered online) or Duff Goldman’s brand of fondant is also very good, but a bit pricy. The Duff Fondant can be found at any Michael’s Craft Store).

I based the design of this cake off of a Birthday Theme that I found on 1stwishes.com. (If you want to check out the theme to get ideas for a cake you want to make, or to view the packet for your child’s next birthday, visit 1stwishes.com and look up “Giraffe 1st Birthday”, or Google it and it should bring up the URL for the website).

To add a bit more detail to make the cake extra special, I decided to cover the cakeboard in fondant and decorate it to fit the theme of the party. So, this cute little giraffe is resting on a pale blue backdrop that features some leaf detail (I used leaf cookie cutters to cut out the fondant shapes), a sweet little lady bug (who matches the colors of the giraffe), and a Birthday greeting.

I also made 1 dozen cupcakes that were also Vanilla with a Pink-tinted Buttercream Frosting, alongside a Smash Cake for the birthday girl. (A quick tip: Use a Cupcake Tower to make the cupcakes and/or smash cake a centerpiece for the party. There are multiple options for stands out there: Wilton stands that can be purchased at craft stores such as Michael’s and plastic, metal, and specialty stands that can be ordered online at such sites as efavormart.com).