Chocolate Butterscotch Ganache Layer Cake

For those days you don't want to eat a cake slathered with butter cream, but still want some richness in between layers, this is a great recipe to try. Aaron my baby turning 13, requested butterscotch and it pairs beautifully with the richness of chocolate ganache. I used box cake but you can use any cake recipe of your preference.

Ingredients

1 box Duncan Hines French Vanilla Cake mix
1 box Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake mix

8 inch cake pan

Chocolate Ganache
8 oz(225 g) chopped or chocolate chips
1 cup heavy or whipping cream

Butterscotch Ganache
8 oz(225 g) chopped or butterscotch chips
1 cup heavy or whipping cream

Instructions
Bake the cakes separately according to the package instructions. Leave to cool.

In two separate bowls add the chocolate and butterscotch chips.
Heat the cream(1 cup per bowl) just till the cream has reaches a rolling boil.
Pour a cup each over the chocolate and butterscotch and leave for a minute.
After a minute stir till combined.
Leave for a few hours till the ganache thickens,
Using a knife or a cake leveler slice both cakes horizontally.
Place the chocolate layer at the bottom.
Spread half the butterscotch ganache on top.
Add a vanilla layer
Spread half the chocolate ganache on top
Add another chocolate layer
Spread the other half of the butterscotch ganache on top.
Add the final vanilla layer
Spread the rest of chocolate ganache on top and let it drip over the sides.
Decorate with sprinkles(optional)

This is not a paid for advertisement for Duncan Hines.

Cheater's Death by Chocolate

I'm a big advocate of making things from scratch, but every now and then you need to give yourself a break and take advantage of all of the amazing grocery products out there.Once in a while I like to cheat hence the name of the cake :)

Three simple ingredients are going to make this cake sing.

I box chocolate cake mix - I used Duncan Hines
1 cup Nutella - just warm it up
4 full size Snickers bars - slice. You can use any candy bar you like.


Bake the cake according to the box instructions. In the last 5 minutes add the Snicker pieces to the top and return to the oven. When the cake has cooled, slice horizontally into two layers and spread the Nutella in between. Heaven on a plate!

Magic Party

 

Who doesn't love a Magic Party? My 12 year old son, that's who! Once I convinced him to throw yet another theme party with the promise of not going overboard(as if), we were off to the races. I tried to keep the theme and decor a little more dark and sparkly and more appropriate for my 12 year old and his friends.

Invitation

I'm lucky that I have Photoshop experience. I added the birthday boy to an image of a top hat and emailed it out to his friends.

Decor

The party was help in the basement with very low lights. I used all the Christmas and rope lighting we had. The boys also had some lava lamps and fiber optic lights - I used them all. Using Poster board, silver pens and 3d glitter glue i made two posters, one to welcome guests to the party and one at the snack table that read "Magic trick, put food in mouth and watch it disappear' I also decorated with gold and silver decorations. I also hung a giant frame and had each kid take their picture in it.

Games

I organized three games before the Magician came on to keep the kids busy.

1. Treasure hunt - I printed the card of my son with the bunny and mixed it together with 4 other packs of cards. Cards were strewn everywhere. First kid to find the special card wins, kid that has the most cards(great way to get them to clean up) also wins a prize.

2. 3 corners - Alakazam, Abracadabra and Hocus Pocus. Kids dance when the music is played. When the music stops, they pick a corner. If their corner is called out they are out.

3. Hocus Pocus - I prepared a powerpoint presentation with pictures of the birthday boy and some other kids. Each pic had two versions, one blurry and one in focus. Kids have to guess if it's Hocus or Bogus!

Food

Keep it simple. Kids don't like fancy food so I served hot dogs, chicken fries, meatballs, chips, juice, mini pancakes with bananas and cream and the surprise was a chocolate fountain.

Cake

I made a Top Hat with a rabbit coming out of it.

Loot bags

I bought a whole bunch of chocolate bunnies at Easter, removed the boxes and put then in cellophane bags with stars on it. I made top hats out of construction paper and inserted a bunny in each.

Hire a fantastic magician! If you’re in the Toronto area, I highly recommend J’s Magic. His card tricks are amazing and he floated the birthday boy in thin air!

J's Magic
Magician & Entertainment Specialist
(705) 742-9123
Info@JsMagic.ca <mailto:Jason@jsmagic.ca>
www.JsMagic.ca
https://www.facebook.com/JsMagicEntertainment <https://www.facebook.com/JsMagicEntertainment>
https://twitter.com/#!/Js_Magic <https://twitter.com/#!/Js_Magic>