Pre-wedding cake for Michele
So Michele's last day at work before gettin hitched and becoming Mrs.Dykes was Wednesday. I worked overnight with Bill on Tuesday, so Tuesday afternoon I baked her a cake and took it with me when I went in that night. I was totally experimenting and had to change my plan just slightly thanks to the fondant I bought at Michaels being hard inside the package. Anyhow. It was a plain ol' chocolate cake. (What other kind of cake could I have made for Michele??)
But wait, what's that between the layers?
I wanted cherry jelly...or jam...or preservs...or something. But what I REALLY wanted was my Grandma's cherry jelly. That stuff was perfect. And you could put it on anything...biscuits, pancakes, toast, eat it straight out of the jar, etc. Mmmm, Grandma...you are missed and so are your jellies...and damn near everything else you ever cooked! Anyhow, did you know that Wal Mart does not carry anything that resembles cherry jelly? In any way shape or form? None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zip-a-dee-do-da! So I improvised with the liquid portion of cherry pie filling. Because who doesn't love cherry pie filling?!? And did you know that with the chocolate chips and such in the baking aisle they sell Andes baking chips? As in andes mints. They are fabulous! So yes, in between the layers is the liquid portion of cherry pie filling, topped with andes baking chips.
After not being able to try my hand at fondant, I had to figure something else out. I didn't want to do regular frosting, because I was in a mood to experiment. What can I say? I am my mother's daughter! (And oh how we have all benefited from her experiments over the years!) In a cook book I recently purchased there's a recipe for ganache. I hadn't ever even had ganache before, but I figured hey, it's chocolate...how bad can it be, right? Ohhhh my God was I right! I went with white chocolate because I know that Michele LOVES white chocolate.
So. There you have it. A chocolate layer cake, with a cherry-mint filling, white chocolate ganache frosting, and cherries on top! (I couldn't let the cherries go to waste, and I didn't need to eat them all! I've got about half a can left and I think I'll make a small cobbler with them and the half a can of apple pie filling I have left over from about a week ago)