Valentines Day

Share a smile. 
Fill the world with cheer. 
Spread Valentine spirit far and near.

Happy Valentines day all! To celebrate I made these little chocolate and ganache treats. They are the perfect comfort food since I am feeling sorry for myself (Himself is out of the country for work).

 

Gananche is super simple yet really impressive.

All you need is 500g good quality chocolate and 250ml of cream. Bring the cream to a boil in a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate and stir. Put in the fridge, stirring every 5 minutes until the mixture is thick enough to spread.

I left the mixture fairly runny and poured it on top of the cupcakes while they were still warm. This let it sink into the cake, making it rich and gooey.... my favorite!

The cupcake toppers are from One Charming Party. I love getting their newsletter every day with free printables and great party ideas.

I've also been indulging in peanut butter M&M's. I absolutely love that they do them in holiday colours (Valentines ones pictured above).

Hope you have a sweet day!

Weekend Madness

I had a super BUSY weekend, including a whole lot of birthday cakes :)

Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling

Red velvet with cream cheese filling

Some of the highlights of my weekend:

1.  My dad's birthday celebratory lunch

2.  Delivering two gorgeous cakes.... and nothing went wrong!

3.  Cousin Margo arriving from SLC

4.  The birth of my first little niece :)

 

It was a hit!

Welcome Baby Luke

I absolutely loved making this cake for my friend Nicki (check out her blog Life With Luca) whose boss is expecting.

I stuck to a simple vanilla cake but spread a thick layer of chocolate ganache on top. The chocolate ganache is so simple to make and so delicious. In a double boiler I broke up 300g of milk chocolate (you're supposed to use dark chocolate, but I love the flavour of Cadbury milk chocolate) and poured in a cup of cream. Let the chocolate melt and stir well. Take off the heat and the ganache will thicken nicely.

I had a little ganache left over which I mixed into a chocolate buttercream frosting. It gave the buttercream frosting a heavenly mousse like consistency and made it even more chocolatey. I know this because I tasted a little bit and then got carried away and tasted a lot! 

Got another baby shower in a few weeks and am not sure how I'm going to top this! Ideas are welcome :)

Happy baking!