Ciara's Little Eats: Marble Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Good afternoon everyone!

So the clocks have gone forward and the days are getting brighter! And to celebrate I have been baking away! I have a few orders next week and when I haven't made a bake before or for a long while (I encourage people to ask me about what I can bake, but also what they would like for an order. This way it allows me to firstly expand my baking portfolio, but it also allows me to be able to deliver baked goods that are exactly what the customer is looking for and wants) I like to practice them.

This is research in a way as it allows me to see the texture, taste, consistency and quantity of the bake. It allows me to measure the ingredients needed to make and see how much it takes to make each bake and how long it takes to make them and all that.

Also, when I am imagining a bake and what it will look like, I love being able to make it before-hand and actually see what it turns out like and then having the comfort in knowing what it will look like. This is of course unless I decide I want to make it differently, but that doesn't happen often when I am really happy with a dessert. But I like leaving it open for creative flair.

Practice makes perfect as they say and also allows me to improve and test new ways in which to make bakes.

So it's been all cake, cake, cake this week.

This won't be a very long blog post as this one and the next one are supposed to serve as one, except I like writing them separately; keeps the thoughts in order. I don't want to mix my blog posts and star rambling on about peanuts, when it is a marble cake I'm supposed to be blogging about.

So this is a really enjoyable, happy cake to make that goes from looking like a beautiful cake to a stunner. It's all in the icing and the finish touches!

The Equipment you'll need is;

- 2 x 20cm Cake tins
- 1 Spatula
- 1 small Palette knife
- 1 Small, non-stick pan
- 1 Piping bag, fitted with a star nozzle
- 2 discs of baking paper
- Weighing scales

The Ingredients you'll need are;

Cake;

- 220g Self-Raising flour
- 220g Caster Sugar
- 220g Butter
- 4 Eggs
- 100g Milk Chocolate
- 100ml Double Cream

Ganache;

- 300g Milk Chocolate
- 300ml Double Cream
- 5g Butter

The Method for making this is;

- Pre-heat the oven t 170 C until it is all warm, cosy and ready to welcome those cakes with hot rack arms..when in reality, it is an oven, it has no feelings or emotion- to you. To me, it is a friend, a buddy, a companion. It and the fridge together are my dream team, actually reality team as I have them, but still my dream team all the same.

- Pour the cream into a pot and heat on a medium heat until it is steaming. You don't want this to bubble at all, just wait and allow it to cook until you begin to see the steam coming off of it.

- Crumble the chocolate into a glass bowl and leave aside.

- Pour the heated cream over the cool chocolate and allow to sit for a few seconds. Stir continuously until it is smooth, fully combined and lusciously indulgent.

- Fling some butter into a bowl. I didn't do this, but d'you know what a fun game could be, and something i'm totally tying when my sister is home? One of you stand at one end of a room with a baking bowl and the other with the butter at the other end. Now depending on the size of your room, distances may vary. Try and chuck the butter in the bowl by taking a scoop and hurdle it towards the direction of the bowl.

- Anyway, ranting and fantasising aside, weigh out the butter and use the remained of it to grease the cake tins and then line them with baking paper. To make it really easy, I cut a long strip of the baking paper. I then snip it in two. Then I snip off the corners of each square, making them more into Octagons opposed to circles, but that is the way I roll.

- Whisk the butter until it is light, smooth and fluffy looking. Add in the sugar and start whisking slowly until it is all combined and then whisk it at a quicker pace to make it really aerated and lovely.

- Add in the eggs and whisk all at once. Add in the flour and whisk slowly and jut until combined, maybe a little less. Add in the ganache and whisk until smooth, a lovely and even chocolate colour and it is all silky looking.

- Portion this evenly between two cake tins and using the small palette knife, spread it around and evenly before chucking in the oven.

- Bake these for around 24 minutes or until they have risen, are light looking and spring back to the touch or when you insert a skewer it comes out clean and you can feel the pull of the crumbs that have developed.

- Leave these to cool and make the ganache for the icing.

- Plonk the cream into a pot and heat until the steam starts to come off again, like you did for the first ganache. Pour this over the crumbled up chocolate and mix until silky smooth.

- Leave this to set in the fridge and thicken up enough to use as the icing. You want it thick enough so that it won't dribble out the sides of the cake, but thin enough to be spreadable and still have the silky quality.

- Scoop a little of the thickened ganache onto the bottom layer of the cake and spread just before it reaches the edge of the cake. Plop the other half of the cake on top and cover it and the sides with the ganache as well. Use the edge of the palette knife to scrape the sides and top to give an even layer and finish.