How to Frost a Cake

(Above) Glossy ganache frosting. Check.

(Above) Clean hands and cake. Check.



(Above) 1st layer. Check. 2nd layer. Check.


(Above) Sprinkles. Double Check.

(Above) Not exactly worthy of Martha Stewart, or even Martha Washington, but it tasted great! (And I cleaned up the platter before serving it to the birthday boy.)

Daddy requested a yellow cake with chocolate frosting for his birthday. I used the Golden Cake with Chocolate-Sour Cream Frosting from the Gourmet Cookbook, the recipe is also at Epicurious.com. The cake was pretty good, but the frosting was spectacular. It used a pound and a quarter of milk chocolate and three-quarters of a pound of semisweet chocolate, melted and smoothed out with three cups of sour cream and a shot of vanilla. The resulting frosting was glossy, rich and probably the most beautiful bowl of chocolate I've ever seen in my life. It made the cake.