I've made this several times with semi-sweet chocolate and no rum (or vanilla) and it always comes out perfectly! I usually set aside a small portion and whip it with a whisk until it lightens in color and becomes fluffy and creamy. I use that portion as icing between my cake layers. This ganache goes especially well with the Black Magic Cake on this site.

Reviewed On: Aug. 25, 2009

I doubled this recipe and made 1 three-layered cake and 1 half-layered cake (to keep home). I made the Chocolate Ganache on this website (no rum) to frost in between layers (by whipping up a portion of the ganache) and to coat the cake (using the unwhipped ganache). I refrigerated the cake overnight then covered it with sliced strawberries. The whole thing was gone after the cake was cut and people asked for seconds! I'll definitely do this again. It's VERY simple, but the layers are super soft and I had to piece them together with the frosting. No one could taste the coffee, but it did enhance the chocolate flavor and gave the cake some extra oomph.

Reviewed On: Aug. 25, 2009

Wonderful cake! I made three layers (+ two small cupcakes on the side) from this recipe. I made a couple of changes based on others' reviews: 1) used only 1.5 cups sugar 2) beat egg yolks into batter; whipped egg whites to stiff peaks then folded them into the batter. I topped the layers with extra puree and whipped cream cream cheese (from this site - one recipe was large enough to frost between layers, over the cake, and on top of the two cupcakes). Yum! The cake is soft and moist. It's important that CAKE flour (not all purpose flour) be used and that the flour is sifted BEFORE measuring. I highly recommend this recipe and will be making this cake again next week for a birthday. Update: Made this for the birthday. I used silicone pans (no greasing) and made 2 layers instead of three. I prefer the larger layers and the cake was a huge hit. Served it with strawberry puree on the side. Ran out of cake in 5 minutes and had to turn people away!

Reviewed On: May 13, 2009