Chocolate Easter Cake with Ganache Frosting

Attention all chocolate lovers: this cake might put you over the edge. Two dense layers of chocolate cake, rich and creamy ganache frosting, topped with shaved milk chocolate (Cadbury, to be exact) and the smoooothest little chocolate eggs you've ever had. (Again, obviously Cadbury... I'm a little obsessed.) I'm usually a fruity dessert lover, but to appease the chocolate eaters in my family I made this rich chocolate cake for Easter dinner back home. Dylan came home with me for the holiday and I have no doubt he was happily fed the whole trip. He's always astounded by how much my family eats. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing...

Posing with the cake

Easter Sunday

Dyeing eggs with Dylan and my sister Megan

Another exciting part about the weekend was that Dylan and I got to celebrate our 2-year anniversary! We've been living 8 hours apart since January, so seeing each other in general is reason enough to celebrate. Back in Boston we would cook together most nights, so we decided to make a nice dinner for the occasion. We had caprese salad, paprika-spiced flank steak, and beer-battered coconut shrimp. Expect to see that coconut shrimp recipe on here soon - it was amazingggg. Then again, how could you go wrong beer-battering anything?

Set-up in the dining room

Caprese salad

Paprika-spiced flank steak and coconut shrimp

Getting back to the cake, I found this recipe on marthastewart.com, which has yet to steer me wrong. This cake was spongy and moist, giving it this awesome sensation of both soft and heavy. The Cadbury chocolate on top is what pushed me over the edge. Dylan introduced me to these chocolates, which are only sold once a year around Easter and are his absolute favorite. This cake would be great to make all year round, but the chocolate egg nest make it particularly adorable for spring. Enjoy! :)

Chocolate Easter Cake with Ganache Frosting (from Martha Stewart)
Serves: 10-12  Prep: 1 hour  Total: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup butter
1 tbs instant espresso powder
3/4 cup water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbs vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 ounces semisweet chocolate
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbs corn syrup
8 ounces milk chocolate
Cadbury eggs for garnish

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Coat two 8-inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray, cover in parchment paper, spray again and sprinkle with cocoa powder, shaking off excess.
Melt butter in a large pot and whisk in water, cocoa powder and espresso powder until dissolved. Whisk in sugar and remove from heat. Add the remaining wet ingredients first, then dry ingredients, and mix until fully incorporated. Pour into cake pans and bake for 45-50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
When the cake is done, remove and let cool in pans for 20 minutes. Remove from pans and let sit until cool to the touch. Cut off the rounded tops of both cake layers to make them flat. Place one layer cut-side up on a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet. Spread a little less than half the frosting in the center of the cake. Cover by laying the second half cut-side down and spread remaining frosting over the top and sides. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until frosting is firm.
Melt semisweet chocolate, heavy cream and corn syrup together in a heat-proof bowl over boiling water. Let cool for several minutes before pouring over cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Before serving, shave milk chocolate with a large knife and garnish on top of cake with Cadbury eggs.