I finally got to make this cake - WOW it was good! I had a few questions as posted above and now I know the answers. You can actually get 16 pieces of cake out of this. I must say that I would personally enjoy a larger piece, but for the dinner party it was fine. There were appetizers, salad, entree and dessert...so a small piece worked out good.
I also asked about filling options, but made it as is this first time and it was great. I was concerned that the batter seemed so thin, but it baked up with a beautiful texture. I want to try a filling next time now that I know how the cake will hold up. I had never made ganache before and was extremely surprised how easy it was not to mention good!
Thanks for the tips and the wonderful recipe. I will definitely make this again!

Planning to make this cake for about forty people..How many servings will i get from this recipe? Thanks

The recipe states that this cake will serve 8-12 people. However, the 3 comments above also talk about this same subject. The comment directly above yours mentions that they were able to cut the cake into 16 pieces. It really just depends on the sizes you want. Cheers!

First off, this turned out incredibly good when I made it. Density is perfect - and taste.... well out of this world!

Question is this: My hubby was less impressed than me because he has a super sweet tooth and wished the ganache was sweeter. So would you just switch to a milk chocolate from the semi sweet or would you still use the semi sweet and add some kind of sweetener to the ganache? Or maybe use half milk choc and half semi-sweet? Probably doesn't matter but just checking in case there is a best way to get a sweeter ganache.

Unfortunately, milk chocolate, in this particular recipe, cannot be substituted. It has a higher cocoa content and will not set properly. You can experiment with different types of dark chocolate, which will provide a different flavor, but make sure they are still of a good quality (54% cocoa mass). Check out the Basics of Quality Chocolate lesson in the Cooking School for more information on choosing/identifying quality chocolate. Cheers!

May I use this cake batter to make a black forest cake?

I am sure this cake would work fine for a black forest cake. Would it be "classic" or "traditional", that I am not surel: however, it will still taste good. Cheers!

For Thanksgiving 2011 we decided to make everything from this website for the first time. Our Menu consisted of the following:

Turkey and Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Candied Yam
Stuffing
Cranberry Sauce
Chocolate Ganache Cake

Everything made from scratch and followed the recipe to the tee, most items grown from our garden (and from Organic Local Farms). Did we say everything tasted fantastic? Wow! We're going to make this same recipe again next year!

We made this during Thanksgiving 2011 and it was so moist and delicious my wife made it for my birthday. She used 2C of sugar instead of 2 1/4C and it was equally moist and delicious. We will be making this regularly on special occasions or even "just because." :)

how many cupcakes would I get from this batter?

It depends on how big you make them. For an average sized cupcake you would likely get at 12. Cheers!

Great cake!!!

I used 70% cocoa but found that I had to add some confectioners sugar to reduce the bitterness a bit. The next time I plan to use the 54% chocolate. One of the things I realized too late is that the cocoa should be more evenly and finely chopped to properly melt in the warmed cream. Luckily there weren't too many small chunks left and they pretty much blended in with the appearance of the cake.

I don't have 9 x 2 inch pans; the closest size I could find were about 10.5 x 1.5 inches. This more thinly distributed batter and the fact that I had to place one on the rack and the other on the tray of the oven affected the baking time.

TIP: the removable rotating disk with wheels and glass dish from a microwave oven works just as well as a rotating cake tray when icing a cake.

Nice tip on removing the rotating disk/tray from the microwave to use as a decorating tray. Glad you liked the cake. And yes, make sure to chop the chocolate fairly fine so it melts evenly. Cheers!

Silly question but what texture should ganache have? I made this cake for the following day and even after leaving out of fridge to get to room temp, the ganache was still a little hard as opposed to a fudgey texture I was hoping for.

Overall it wasnt bad - everyone like it but the 68% valrhona that I used was a bit strong for most! Will try a to find a 54% next time but they are diff to come by here (unless you go for a lesser quality bar).

Ganache should be smooth & have no graininess. It should melt in your mouth. If the cake has been refrigerated, it is surprising how long it will take at room temperature for the ganache to soften. It will still have a bit of a firm texture because the ratio of chocolate to cream is quite high. Ganache, depending on its use, can have higher amounts of cream to make the texture softer. This ratio is a good one for spreading on the cake and having the ganache hold its shape/texture so it won't ooze out the layers or slide down the sides. Cheers!

I made this cake a few months ago. Is this cake suppose to be slightly sweet? it turned out great just not sweet enough for me.

Since the ganache is quite sweet, the cake itself is not meant to be overly sweet. If you like, you could try increasing the sugar a bit. I have not tried this myself however so be careful not add too much or you might throw of the formula. Cheers!

Could I double or triple the recipe(only cake) to make pound cake?

This isn't a formula for a pound cake, but you can double the recipe. I wouldn't triple it or scale it any larger than that though. In baking, it is often risky to scale formulas because the larger amounts may not work in harmony with each other and tweaks may need to be made to the formula (i.e. more or less baking powder/soda/cocoa, flour, etc.). We have not tested this formula for a triple batch but I suspect a double batch would be fine. Cheers!

What would happen if I substituted the sugar for honey. Would that work? Or will the texture be completely different? Has anyone tried that before?

The type of sweetener used in a formula has a tremendous impact on the final result. Honey is a liquid and sugar is a solid so the final texture of the cake will definitely be different, as will its flavor. You will likely wind up with a cake that is very dense, overly moist and may not rise very well.

Feel free to experiment but just keep in mind that when it comes to tweaking baking formulas, some failures should be expected before you achieve a result you are happy with. Because granulated sugar performs certain functions, you may never be able to achieve the same result by using honey. Some formulas just rely on the nature of the ingredients called for and are best not substituted. Also, when you come across a really good formula, it's best to leave it as is. We think this is one of them :-) If you are concerned about eating granulated sugar though, it might be better to seek out some other recipes/formulas that call for honey instead. Cheers!

I made this cake last week and it was very moist and delicious.
I tried making it again today at the request of those who ate my previous attempt. Unfortunately it turned out to be very dry and crumbly.

Do you have any thoughts on why this might have happened?

I added a table spoon of orange essence as well as vanilla essence and a table spoon of Drambui too this time round. Could this cause cake trouble?
I also mistakenly added and whisked all the wet ingredients together at once and not separately as per the recipe. Could this be the cause of my cake woes?

A woeful cake mystery! Let's see...

Many factors can contribute to a dry or crumbly cake, the most common of which is overcooking and/or improper cooling. The additional vanilla, orange essence, and liqueur would not dramatically alter the moisture content, especially if yielding a drier product.

It is also possible that the use of dry measure (as opposed to weight measure) threw off your wet to dry ratio. Again, not typically a recipe buster--but something that adds variation each time you make it.

As long as the wet ingredients were thoroughly combined, the exact order in which they were mixed should also not significantly impact moisture content.

Happy Cooking, Enjoy!

Hi..can i substitute semi sweet chocolate chips for ganache?

To clarify my question...I have semi sweet chocolate chips also regular not dutched cocoa in my pantry...and was wondering if I could substitute
these ingredients...and how it would affect the final outcome of the cake?