Yesterday was my little brother’s 18th birthday, which naturally called for a cake. He requested a yellow cake with chocolate frosting in celebration of his new ability to theoretically buy lotto tickets and cigs, get a tattoo, vote, drive an ice cream truck, be on Jerry Springer, and be a legal adult (all of these are from the wondrous search engine Google). After baking a standard yellow cake from my dog eared copy of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, I searched around and found a recipe for chocolate ganache frosting courtesy of Stephanie from Desserts for Breakfast.

The frosting is rich, creamy, and almost a cross between fudge and frosting, making it the perfect addition to the cake. My brother approved it in between mouthfuls of his second piece of cake, which means it has to be good. Even though this was a birthday cake, it makes any day worth celebrating, so show yourself or others a little love this week and bake this…you can have your cake and eat it too.

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Yellow Birthday Cake with Chocolate Ganache

For the cake:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups milk

For the chocolate ganache frosting:

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

7.5 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 

For the cake:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease and lightly flour two 9 inch round cake pans. Set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside as well.

In a stand mixer, beat the butter on high speed until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating until fluffy, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture, beating just until combined. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans, smoothing the tops.

Bake in the preheated oven 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool the cake layers in the pan for ten minutes and then invert and cool completely on racks.

For the chocolate ganache frosting:

In a saucepan, bring the sugar and heavy cream to a boil over medium heat. Once the mixture is boiling, reduce the hear to low and simmer for six minutes, making sure that it does not boil over.

Remove from hear and stir in the chocolate and butter until they have completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Let the frosting cool completely, whisking every now and then during cooling. Once the ganache is completely cool at room temperature, it will be spreadable.

Assembly:

Stack the cakes, spreading a generous layer of frosting in between the cake layers. Frost the outside of the cake with the remaining frosting. If desired, top with sprinkles, or any other decorations your heart desires.