When Chocolate Ganache Slides Off.....

The last few days were filled with baking and baking and baking non-stop. Not that I have orders from customers but busy trying out nice recipes…keekeek… now that government servants can work part-time…..hmmmm maybe I should go into this cake business earlier than planned * just toying with the idea :)))))))) **

Piggy gal’s 20th birthday is just around the corner, so I thought I will bake a Chocolate Banana Cake for her. She loves anything chocolatey and strawberries are her favourites so that’s it. Chocolate Banana Cake it is!

It was hard work and I started preparing it on Thursday night itself. Getting all the ingredients ready , I started out with the sponge base. I was delighted when the sponge cake came out soft and fluffy. So next, I prepared the chocolate ganache and let it cooled down while I sliced the cake into 3 layers.

Next , I proceeded with the heavy cream and whipped till it became stiff . I was delighted when everything came out nice. I left the whipped cream in the fridge while I sliced up some banana as fillings. Squeezed some lemon juice over the sliced banana was fun. The fresh lemon fragrance filled the room and it really helped to keep me awake ( it was almost 1am ) . Tired I was, but I had to carry on to finish the cake before I can go to bed.

Now, came the most interesting part….assembling the cake. Due to my tiredness , I had overlooked something very important which spelled DISASTER later . It had never happened before in my cake making adventure :(

I set to assembled the cake, first , I placed the bottom layer on cooling rack , applied the whipped cream on it , then placed the sliced banana on the cream , top up some more cream. Repeated the same process till I have finished all the layers. Covered the cake with the extra cream. It took me almost half an hour to do that coz I have to make sure that the surface is even and nicer plastered with the cream. Well , becoz I was so tired and my brain had gone into hibernation, I guess , I poured the chocolate ganache over the cake . To my delight , the cake was covered with a nice smooth shimmering layer of chocolatey goodness.

My Piggy gal would surely love this sinfully rich chocolatey goodness. I bought some very sweet, BIG imported strawberries from Jusco . Without waiting for the chocolate to set I proceeded to decorate the top with those BIG BIG red luscious fruits . I managed to take some pictures of the cake before DISASTER struck.

Either the brain was still hibernating or suffered brain freeze , I forgot the most important fact. I should have allowed the chocolate ganache to set in the fridge first before moving the cake to a cake base I bought. As I was about to move the cake , the half set chocolate ganache layer slided off the cake surface ( due to the weight of the BIG BIG fruits ) and the whole cake was in a mess.

My brain was jolted out of slumberland and tears just rolled down. Oh….there was nothing I could do but watched helplessly as the whole cake turned into the most ugly looking thing. All I did was muttering in shock….ohh…ohhhh ……....

I was so mad with myself .... I dumped the ugly cake into a big container and chucked it into the fridge. Cleaned up everything and it was nearly 3am.

I went to bed with the worst heartache ever....tossing and turning and muttering to myself... "I should have dumped the beautiful cake in the fridge and moved it to the cake base the next morning " Why..Why...Why???? So many reasons.... the chocolate was not properly set, the strawberries too heavy..... ** the main reason - I WAS TOO TIRED !!!!!

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*** I took emergency leave the next day to bake another cake for Piggy gal's birthday...can?